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THE DUEL 
2 



BETWEEN 



FRANCE AND GERMANY, 



ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 



LECTURE 



CHARLES SUMNER 



" For when kings make war, 
No law betwixt two sovereigns can decide, 
But that of arms, where fortune is the judge, 
Soldiers the lawyers, and the bar the field." 

Detden, 



BOSTON: 
LEE AND SHEPARD. 

1871. 




University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co., 
Cambridge. 



THE LIBRARY 
or CONGRESS 

IfrASHINQTOir 



LECTURE. 



ME. PEESIDENT, — I am to speak of the Duel 
between France and Germany, with its Lesson to 
Civilization. In calling the terrible war now waging 
a duel, I might content myself with classical authority, 
duellum being a well-known Latin word for war. The 
historian Livy makes a Eoman declare that affairs are 
to be settled " by a pure and pious duel " ; the drama- 
tist Plautus has a character in one of his plays who ob- 
tains great riches " by the duelling art," meaning the 
Art of War ; and Horace, the exquisite master of lan- 
guage, hails the age of Augustus with the Temple of 
Janus closed and " free from duels," meaning at peace, 
for then only was that famous temple shut. 

WAR UNDER THE LAW OF NATIONS A DUEL. 

But no classical authority is needed for this designa- 
tion. War, as conducted under International Law, be- 
tween two organized nations, is in all respects a duel, 
according to the just signification of this word, differing 
from that between two individuals only in the number 
of combatants. The variance is of proportion merely, 
each nation being an individual who appeals to the 
sword as Arbiter, and in each case the combat is subject 



4 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

to rules constituting a code by which the two parties 
are bound. For long years before civilization prevailed, 
the code governing the duel between individuals was as 
fixed and minute as that which governs the larger duel 
between nations, and the duel itself was simply a mode 
of deciding questions between individuals. In present- 
ing this comparison I expose myself to criticism only 
from those who have not considered this interesting sub- 
ject in the light of history and of reason. The parallel 
is complete. Modern war is the Duel of the Dark Ages, 
magnified, amplified, extended so as to embrace nations ; 
nor is it any less a duel, because the combat is quick- 
ened and sustained by the energies of self-defence, or 
because, when a champion falls and lies on the ground, 
he is brutally treated. An authentic instance illustrates 
such a duel; and I bring before you the very pink of 
chivalry, the Chevalier Bayard, the knight without fear 
and without reproach, who, after combat in a chosen 
field, succeeded by a feint in driving his weapon four 
inches deep into the throat of his adversary, and then, 
rolling with him, gasping and struggling, on the ground, 
thrust his dagger into the nostrils of the fallen victim, 
exclaiming, " Surrender, or you are a dead man," — a 
speech which seemed superfiuous, for the second cried 
out, " He is dead ; you have conquered." Then did 
Bayard, brightest among the sons of war, drag his 
dead enemy from the field, crying, " Have I done 
enough ? " Now, because the brave knight saw fit to 
do these things, the combat was not changed in original 
character. It was a duel at the beginning and at the 
end. Indeed, the brutality with which it closed was the 
natural incident of a duel. A combat once begun opens 
the way to violence, and the conqueror too often sur- 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION, 5 

renders to the Evil Spirit, as Bayard, in Ms unworthy 
barbarism. 

In likening war between nations to the duel, I follow 
not only reason, but authority also. No better lawyer 
can be named in the long history of the English bar 
than John Selden, whose learning was equalled only by 
his large intelligence. In those conversations which, 
under the name of Table-Talk, continue still to instruct, 
the wise counsellor, after saying that the Church allowed 
the duel anciently, and that in the public liturgies there 
were prayers appointed for duellists, keenly inquires, 
" But whether is this lawful ? " And then he answers, 
" If you grant any war lawful, I make no doubt but to 
convince it." Selden regarded the simple duel and the 
larger war as governed by the same rule. Of course the 
exercise of force in the suppression of rebellion, or in 
the maintenance of laws, stands on a different princi- 
ple, being in its nature a constabulary proceeding, which 
cannot be confounded with the duel. But my object is 
not to question the lawfulness of war ; I would simply 
present an image, enabling you to see the existing war 
in its true character. 

The duel in its simplest form is between two individ- 
uals. In early ages it was known sometimes as the Ju- 
dicial Combat and sometimes as Trial by Battle. Not 
only points of honor, but titles to land, grave questions 
of law, and even the subtilties of theology, were referred 
to this arbitrament, — just as now kindred issues be- 
tween nations are referred to Trial by Battle ; and the 
early rules governing the duel are reproduced in the 
Laws of War established by nations to govern the great 
Trial by Battle. Ascending from the individual to cor- 
porations, guilds, villages, towns, counties, provinces, we 



6 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

find that for a long period each of these bodies exercised 
what was called " the right of war." The history of 
France and Germany shows how reluctantly this mode 
of trial yielded to the forms of reason and order. France, 
earlier than Germany, ordained " trial by proofs," and 
eliminated the duel from judicial proceedings, this im- 
portant step being followed by the amalgamation of 
discordant provinces in the powerful unity of the Na- 
tion, so that Brittany and Normandy, Franche-Comte 
and Burgundy, Provence and Dauphiny, Gascony and 
Languedoc, became the United States of France, or, if 
you please, France. In Germany the change was slower; 
and here the duel exhibits its most curious instances, 
Not only feudal chiefs, but associations of tradesmen 
and of domestics sent defiance to each other, and some- 
times to whole cities, on pretences trivial as those which 
have been the occasion of defiance from nation to na- 
tion. There still remain to us Declarations of War by a 
lord of Prauenstein against the free city of Frankfort, 
because a young lady of the city refused to dance with 
his uncle, — by the baker and domestics of the Mar- 
grave of Baden against Eslingen, Reutlingen, and other 
imperial cities, — by the baker of the Count Palatine 
Louis against the cities of Augsburg, Ulm, and Rottweil, 
— by the shoe-blacks of the University of Leipzig against 
the provost and other members, — and by the cook of 
Eppstein, with his scullions, dairy-maids, and dish- 
washers, against Otho, Count of Solms. This prevalence 
of the duel aroused the Emperor Maximilian, who, at 
the Diet of Worms, put forth an ordinance abolishing 
the right or liberty of Private War, and instituting a Su- 
preme Tribunal for the determination of controversies 
without appeal to the duel, and the whole long list of 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATIOISr. 7 

duellists, whether corporate or individual, including no- 
bles, bakers, shoe-blacks, and cooks, were brought under 
its pacific rule. Unhappily the beneficent reform stopped 
half-way, and here Germany was less fortunate than 
France. The great provinces were left in the enjoyment 
of a barbarous independence, with the " right " to fight 
each other. The duel continued their established Arbi- 
ter, until at last, in 1815, by the Act of Union consti- 
tuting the Confederation or United States of Germany, 
each sovereignty gave up the right of war with its con- 
federates, setting an example to the larger nations. The 
terms of this important stipulation, marking a stage in 
German unity, were as follows : " The members further 
bind themselves under no pretext to declare war against 
one another, or to pursue their mutual differences by 
force of arms, but engage to submit them to the Diet." 
Better words could not be found for the United States 
of Europe in the establishment of that Great Era when 
the duel shall cease to be the recognized Arbiter of 
Nations. 

With this exposition, which I hope is not too long, it 
is easy to see how completely a war between two nations 
is a duel, — and, yet further, how essential it is to that 
assured peace which civilization requires, that the duel, 
which is no longer tolerated as Arbiter between indi- 
viduals, between towns, between counties, between prov- 
inces, should cease to be tolerated as such between 
nations. Take our own country, for instance. In a 
controversy between towns, the local law provides a judi- 
cial tribunal ; so also in a controversy between counties. 
Ascending still higher, suppose a controversy between 
two States of our Union ; the National Constitution 
establishes a judicial tribunal, ^sing the Supreme Court 



8 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

of the United States. But at the next stage there is a 
change. Let the controversy arise between two nations, 
and the Supreme Law, which is the Law of ISTations, 
establishes, not a judicial tribunal, but the duel, as Arbi- 
ter. What is true of our country is true of other coun- 
tries where civilization has a foothold, and especially of 
France and Germany. The duel, though abolished as 
Arbiter at home, is continued as Arbiter abroad. And 
since it is recognized by International Law and subjected 
to a code, it is in all res]3ects an Institution. War is an 
Institution sanctioned by International Law, as Slavery, 
wherever it exists, is an Institution sanctioned by Muni- 
cipal Law. But this institution is nothing but the duel 
of the Dark Ages, prolonged into this generation, and 
showing itself in portentous barbarism. 



WHY THIS PARALLEL NOW ? 

Therefore am I right when I call the existing combat 
between France and Germany a duel. I beg you to 
believe that I do this with no idle purpose of illustra- 
tion or criticism, but because I would prepare the way 
for a proper comprehension of the remedy to be applied. 
How can this terrible controversy be adjusted ? I see no 
practical method, which shall reconcile the sensibilities 
of France with the guaranties due to Germany, short of a 
radical change in the War System itself That security 
for the Future, which Germany may justly exact, can be 
obtained in no way so well as by the disarmament of 
France, to be followed naturally by the disarmament 
of other nations, and the substitution of some peaceful 
tribunal for the existing Trial by Battle. Any dismem- 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 9 

berment, or curtailment of territory, will be poor and 
inadequate, for it will leave behind a perpetual sting. 
Something better must be done, 

SUDDENNESS OF THIS WAR. 

Never in history has so great a calamity descended so 
suddenly upon the Human Family, unless we except the 
earthquake toppling down cities and submerging a whole 
coast in a single night. But how small all that has 
ensued from any such convulsion, compared with the 
desolation and destruction already produced by this war ! 
From the first murmur to the outbreak was a brief mo- 
ment of time, as between the flash of lightning and the 
bursting of the thunder. 

At the beginning of July there was peace without 
suspicion of interruption. The Legislative Body had 
just discussed a proposition for the reduction of the an- 
nual army contingent. At Berlin the Parliament was 
not in session. Count Bismarck was at his country 
home in Pomerania, the King enjoying himself at Ems. 
How sudden and unexpected the change will appear 
from an illustrative circumstance. M. Pr^vost-Paradol, 
of rare talent and unhappy destiny, newly appointed 
Minister to the United States, embarked at Havre on 
the 1st of July, and reached Washington on the even- 
ing of the 14th of July. He assured me that when he 
left France there was no talk or thought of war. Dur- 
ing his brief summer voyage the whole startling event 
had begun and culminated. The Prince Leopold Ho- 
henzollern-Sigmaringen being invited to become candi- 
date for the throne of Spain, France promptly sent her 
defiance to Prussia, followed a few days later by formal 



10 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

Declaration of "War. The Minister was oppressed by 
the grave tidings coming upon him so unprepared, and 
sought relief in self-slaughter, being the first victim of 
the war. Everything moved Mdth a rapidity borrowed 
from the new forces supplied by human invention, and 
the gates of w^ar swung wide open. 

CHALLENGE TO PRUSSIA. 

A few incidents exhibit this movement. It was on the 
30th of June, while discussing the proposed reduction 
of the army, that ifimile OUivier, the Prime Minister, 
said openly : " The Government has no kind of anxiety ; 
at no epoch was the maintenance of peace more as- 
sured ; whatever side you look, you see no irritating 
question." In the same debate Garnier-Pag^s, the con- 
sistent Eepublican, and now a member of the Provisional 
Government, after asking " A\1iy these armaments ? " 
cried out : " Disarm without waiting for others : this is 
practical. Let the people be relieved from the taxes 
which crush them, and from the heaviest of all, the tax 
of blood." The candidature of Prince Leopold seems 
to have become kno^^^l at Paris on the 5th of July. 
On the next day the Due de Gramont, of a family 
famous in scandalous history, Minister of Foreign Af- 
fairs, hurries to the tribune with defiance on his lips. 
After declaring for the Cabinet that no Foreign Power 
could be suffered, by placing one of its princes on the 
throne of Charles the Fifth, to derange the balance of 
power in Europe, and put in peril the interests and the 
honor of France, he concludes by saying, in ominous 
words, that, "strong in your support, gentlemen, and in 
that of the nation, we shall know how to fidfil our duty 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 11 

without hesitation and without weakness." Tliis defi- 
ance was followed by what is called in the report, " gen- 
eral and prolonged movement, — repeated ajjplause " ; 
and here was the first stage in the duel Its character 
was reco.gnized at once in the Chamber. Gamier-Pag^s 
exclaimed in words worthy of memory : " It is dynastic 
questions wliich trouljle the peace of Europe. The 
people have reason only to love and aid each other." 
Though short, better than many long speeches. Cre- 
mieux, an associate in the Provisional Government of 
1848, insisted that the utterance of the Minister was 
"a menace of war" ; and Emmanuel Arago, son of the 
great Republican astronomer and mathematician, said 
that the Minister " had declared war." These patriotic 
representatives were not mi.staken. The speech made 
peace difhcult, if not impossible. It was a challenge to 
Prussia. 

COMEDY. 

Europe watched with dismay as the gauntlet was thus 
rudely flung down, while on this side of the Atlantic, 
where Erance and Germany commingle in the enjoy- 
ment of our equal citizenship, the interest was intense. 
Morning and evening the telegraph made us all par- 
takers of the hopes and fears agitating the world. Too 
soon it was apparent that the exigence of Erance would 
not be satisfied, while already her preparations for war 
were undisguised. At all the naval stations, from Tou- 
lon to Cherbourg, the greatest activity prevailed. Mar- 
shal McMahon was recalled from Algeria, and transports 
were made ready to bring back the troops from that 
colony. Meanwhile the consent of the King of Prussia 
to the candidature of Prince Leopold was withdrawn, and 



12 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

he ceased to be a candidate. But this was not enough. 
The King was asked to promise that the candidature 
should in no event hereafter be renewed, which he de- 
clined to do, reserving to himself the liberty of consult- 
ing circumstances. This requirement was the more 
offensive, inasmuch as it was addressed exclusively to 
Prussia while nothing was said to Spain, the principal 
in the business. Then ensued an incident, proper for 
comedy, if it had not become the declared cause of 
tragedy. The French Ambassador, Count Benedetti, 
following the King to Ems, his favorite watering-place, 
pressed him in successive interviews, when at last his 
Majesty, after ascertaining that he had come a third 
time on the same errand, let him know, with perfect 
politeness, by an adjutant in attendance, that he had 
nothing further for him, and this refusal to receive the 
ambassador was promptly communicated by telegraph 
for the information especially of the different German 
governments. 

PRETEXT OF THE TELEGRAM. 

These simple facts, insufficient for the slightest quar- 
rel, intolerable in the pettiness of the issue disclosed, 
and monstrous as reason for war between two civilized 
nations, became the welcome pretext. Swiftly, and with 
ill-disguised alacrity, the French Cabinet took the next 
step in the duel. On the 15th of July the Prime Min- 
ister read from the tribune a manifesto, setting forth the 
griefs of France, being, first, the refusal of the Prussian 
King to promise for the future, and, secondly, his refusal 
to receive the French Ambassador, with the communi- 
cation of this refusal, as was alleged, " officially to the 
Cabinets of Europe " which was a mistaken allegation ; 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 13 

and the paper concludes by announcing that on the 
precedmg day they had called out the reserves, and 
that they should immediately take the measures neces- 
sary to guard the interests, the security, and the honor 
of France. This was war. 

Some there were who saw the fearful calamity, the 
ghastly crime, then and there initiated. The scene that 
ensued belongs to this painful record. The paper an- 
nouncing war was followed by applause, with cries of 
" Bravo ! " The Prime Minister added soon after in de- 
bate, that he accepted war with " a light heart. " Not 
all were in this mood. Esquiros, the Republican, cried 
from his seat, in momentous words, " You have a light 
heart, and the blood of nations is about to flow ! " To 
the apology of the Prime Minister, "that in the dis- 
charge of 'a duty the heart is not troubled," Jules Favre, 
the Republican leader, of acknowledged moderation and 
ability, flashed forth, " When the discharge of this duty 
involves the slaughter of two nations, we may well have 
the heart troubled ! " Beyond these declarations, giving 
utterance to the natural sentiments of humanity, was 
the positive objection most forcibly presented by Thiers, 
so famous in the Chamber and in literature, that France 
had obtained a concession from Prussia, "which expiated 
by a check the grave fault it had committed," — that 
France had prevailed in substance, and all that remained 
was "a question of form," "a question of words and 
susceptibilities," "questions of etiquette." The experi- 
enced statesman asked for the despatches. Then came 
a confession. The Prime Minister replied, that he had 
"nothing to communicate, — that, in the true sense of 
the term, there had been no despatches, — that there 
were only verbal communications preserved in reports. 



14 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GERMANY, 

which, according to diiDlomatic usage, are not communi- 
cated." Here Emmanuel Arago interrupted : " It is on 
these reports that you make war ! " The Prime Minis- 
ter proceeded to read two brief telegrams from Count 
Benedetti at Ems, when De Choiseul very justly ex- 
claimed : " We cannot make war on that ground ; it is 
impossible ! " Others cried out from their seats, — Gar- 
nier-Pages saying, "These are phrases"; Emmanuel 
Arago protesting, "On this the civilized world will 
pronounce you wrong"; to which Jules Favre added, 
" Unhappily, true ! " Thiers and Jules Eavre, with 
vigorous eloquence, charged the war upon the Cabinet, 
— Thiers declaring, " I regret to be obliged to say that 
we have war by the fault of the Cabinet " ; Jules Eavre 
alleging, " If we have war, it is thanks to the politics of 
the Cabinet, — from the exposition made, so* far as the 
general interests of the country are concerned, there is 
no avowable motive to war." Girault exclaimed, in 
similar spirit : " We would be among the first to come 
forward in a war for the country, but we do not wish to 
come forward in a dynastic and aggressive war." The 
Due de Gramont, who on the 6th of July flung down 
the gauntlet, spoke once more for the Cabinet, stating 
solemnly, what was not the fact, that the Prussian 
Government had communicated to all the Cabinets 
of Europe the refusal to receive the Erench Ambas- 
sador, and then on this misstatement ejaculating : " It 
is an outrage on the Emperor and on France ; and 
if by impossibility there should be in my country a 
Chamber that would hear and tolerate it, I would not 
remain five minutes Minister of Foreign Affairs." In 
our country we have seen how the Southern heart was 
fired ; so also was fired the heart of France. The Duke 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 15 

descended from tlie tribune amidst prolonged applause, 
with cries of " Bravo ! " followed at his seat, so says the 
report, by numerous felicitations. Such was the atmos- 
phere of the Chamber at this eventful moment. The 
orators of the Opposition, pleading for delay in the in- 
terest of peace, were stifled, and when Gambetta, the 
young and fearless Eepublican, made himself heard in 
calling for the text of the despatch communicating the 
refusal to receive the Ambassador, to the end that the 
Chamber, France, and all Europe might judge of its 
character, he was answered by the Prime Minister with 
the taunt that " for the first time in a French Assembly 
there were such difficulties on a certain side, in explain- 
ing a question of honor" Such was the case as pre- 
sented by the Prime Minister, and on this question of 
honor he accepted Var " with a light heart." Better 
say with no heart at all, — for whoso could find in this 
condition of things sufficient reason for war was with- 
out heart. 

During these brief days of solicitude, from the 6th 
to the 15th of July, England made an unavailing effort 
for peace. Lord Lyons was indefatigable, and he was 
sustained at home by Lord GranviUe, who as a last re- 
sort reminded the two parties of the stipulation at the 
Congress of Paris, which they had accepted, in favor of 
Arbitration as a substitute for War, and asked them to 
accept the good offices of some friendly Power. Tliis 
most reasonable proposition was rejected by the French 
Minister, who gave new point to the French case by 
charging that Prussia " had chosen to declare that France 
had been affronted in the person of her Ambassador," 
and then positively insisting that "it was this boast 
which was the gravamen of the offence." Capping the 



16 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

climax of barbarous absurdity, the French Minister did 
not hesitate to announce that this " constituted an insult 
which no nation of any spirit could brook, and rendered 
it, much to the regret of the French Government, im- 
possible to take into consideration the mode of settling 
the original matter in dispute which was recommended 
by her Majesty's Government." (Lord Lyons to Lord 
Granville, July 16, 1870.) Thus was peaceful Arbitra- 
tion repelled. All honor to the English Government 
for proposing it ! 

The famous telegram put forward by France as the gra- 
vamen, or chief offence, was not communicated to the 
Chamber. The Prime Minister, though hard pressed, 
held it back. Was it from conviction of its too trivial 
character 1 But it is not lost to the history of the duel. 
This telegram, with something of the brevity peculiar 
to telegraphic despatches, merely reports the refusal to 
see the French Ambassador, without one word of affront 
or boast. It reports the fact and nothing else, and it is 
understood that the refusal was only when this func- 
tionary presented himself the third time on the same 
business. Considering the interests involved, it would 
have been better, had the King seen him as many times 
as he chose to call ; yet the refusal was not unnatural. 
The perfect courtesy of his Majesty on this occasion 
furnished no cause of complaint. All that remained for 
pretext was the telegram. 

FORMAL DECLARATION OF WAR. 

The scene in the Legislative Body was followed by 
the instant introduction of bills making additional ap- 
propriations for the Army and ISTavy, calling out the 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 17 

National Guard, and authorizing volunteers for the war. 
This last proposition was commended by the observa- 
tion that in France there was a quantity of young peo- 
ple liking powder, but not liking barracks, who would 
in this way be suited; and this was received with 
applause. On the 18th of July there was a further 
appropriation to the extent of 500 million francs, — 450 
millions being for the Army and 50 for the Navy, — 
and from 150 to 500 millions treasury notes were 
authorized. On the 20th of July, the Due de Gra- 
mont appeared once more at the tribune, and made the 
following speech : — 

"Conformably to customary rules, and by order of the 
Emperor, I have invited the Charge d' Affaires, of France to 
notify the Berlin Cabinet of our resolution to seek by arms 
the guaranties which we have not been able to obtain by 
discussion. This stej) has been accomplished, and I have 
the honor of making known to the Legislative Assembly that 
in consequence a state of war exists between France and 
Prussia, beginning the 19th of July. This declaration 
applies equally to the allies of Prussia, who lend her the co- 
operation of their arms against us." 

Here the French Minister played the part of trumpet- 
er in the duel, making proclamation before his champion 
rode forward. According to the statement of Count 
Bismarck, made to the Parliament at Berlin, this formal 
Declaration of "War was the solitary official communica- 
tion from France in this whole transaction, being the 
first and only note since the candidature of Prince 
Leopold. How swift this madness will be seen in a few 
dates. On the 6th of July was uttered the first defi- 
ance from the French tribune ; on the 15th of July an 
exposition of the griefs of France, in the nature of a 



18 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

Declaration of War, with a demand for men and money ; 
on the 19th of July a state of war was declared to exist. 
Firmly, but in becoming contrast with the " light heart " 
of France, this was promptly accepted by Germany, 
whose heart and strength found expression in the speech 
of the King at the opening of Parliament, hastily assem- 
bled on the 19th of July. With articulation disturbed 
by emotion and with moistened eyes, his Majesty said, 
" Leaning on the unanimous will of the German gov- 
ernments of the South, as of the governments of the 
North, we address ourselves to the patriotism and devo- 
tion of the German people for the defence of their honor 
and their independence." Parliament responded sym- 
pathetically to the King, and made the necessary appro- 
priations. And thus the two champions stood front to 
front. 

THE TWO HOSTILE PAETIES. 

Throughout France, throughout Germany, the trumpet 
sounded, and everywhere the people sprang to arms, as 
if the great horn of Orlando, after a sleep of ages, had 
sent forth once more its commanding summons. Not 
a town, not a village, that the voice did not penetrate. 
Modern invention had supplied an ally beyond anything 
in fable. From all parts of France, from all parts of 
Germany, armed men leaped forward, leaving behind 
the charms of peace and the business of life. On each 
side the mvister was mighty, armies counting by the 
hundred thousand. And now, before we witness the mu- 
tual slaughter, let us pause to consider the two parties, 
and the issue between them. 

France and Germany are most unlike, and yet the 
peers of each other, while among the nations they are 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 19 

unsurpassed in civilization, eacli prodigious in resources, 
splendid in genius, and great in renown. ISTo two na- 
tions are so nearly matched. By Germany now I mean 
not only the States constituting North Germany, but 
also "Wiirtemberg, Baden, and Bavaria of South Germany, 
allies in the present war, all of which together make 
fifty-two millions of French hectares, being the exact area 
of France. The population of each is not far from thirty- 
eight millions, and it would be difficult to say which is 
the larger. Looking at finances, Germany has the smaller 
revenue, but also the smaller debt, while her rulers, 
following the sentiment of the people, cultivate a wise 
economy, so that here again substantial equality is main- 
tained with France. The armies of the two, embracing 
regular troops and those subject to call, did not differ 
much in numbers, unless we set aside the authority of 
the Almanach de Gotha, which puts the military force 
of France somewhat vaguely at 1,350,000, while that of 
North Germany is only 977,262, to which must be added 
60,000 for Bavaria, 35,000 for Wiirtemberg, and 43,000 
for Baden, making a sum-total of 1,115,262. This, how- 
ever, is chiefly on paper, where it is evident France is 
stronger than in reality. Her available force at the out- 
break of the war probably did not amount to more than 
350,000 bayonets, while that of Germany, owing to her 
superior system, was as much as double this number. 
In Prussia every man is obliged to serve, and, still 
further, every man is educated. Discipline and educa- 
tion are two potent adjuncts. This is favorable to Ger- 
many. In the chassepot and needle-gun the two are 
equal. But France excels in a well-appointed Navy, 
having no less than fifty-five iron-clads and numerous 
other vessels of war, while Germany has not a single 



20 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

iron-clad and very few war-ships of any kind. Then 
again for long generations has existed another disparity, 
to the great detriment of Germany. France has been a 
nation, while Germany was divided, and therefore weak. 
Strong in union, the latter now claims something more 
than that " dominion of the air " once acknowledged to 
be hers, while France had the land and England the sea. 
The dominion of the land is at last contested, and we 
are saddened inexpressibly, that, from the elevation they 
have reached, these two peers of civilization can descend 
to practise the barbarism of war, and especially that the 
land of Descartes, Pascal, Voltaire, and Laplace must 
challenge to bloody duel the land of Luther, Leibnitz, 
Kant, and Humboldt. 

FOLLY. 

Plainly between these two neighboring Powers there 
has been unhappy antagonism, constant, if not in- 
creasing, partly from the memory of other days, and 
partly because France could not bear to witness that 
German unity which was a national right and duty. 
Often it has been said that war was inevitable. But it 
has come at last by surprise, and on a " question of 
form." So it was called by Thiers ; so it was recog- 
nized by OUivier, when he complained of insensibility 
to a question of honor ; and so also by the Due de 
Gramont, when he referred it all to a telegram. This 
is not the first time in history that wars have been 
waged on trifles ; but since the Lord of Prauenstein 
challenged the Free City of Frankfort because a young 
lady of the city refused to dance with his uncle, nothing 
has passed more absurd than this challenge sent by 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 21 

France to Germany, because the King of Prussia re- 
fused to see the French Ambassador in a third visit on 
the same matter, and then let tlie refusal be reported by 
telegraph. Here is the folly exposed by Shakespeare, 
when Hamlet touches a madness greater than his own 
in that spirit which would "find quarrel in a straw 
when honor 's at the stake," and at the same time 
depicts an army 

" Led by a delicate and tender prince, 
Exposing wliat is mortal and unsure 
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare, 
Even for an eggshell." 

There can be no quarrel in a straw or for an eggshell, 
unless men have gone mad. Nor can honor in a civi- 
lized age require any sacrifice of reason or humanity. 

UNJUST PRETENSION OF FRANCE TO INTERFERE WITH 
THE CANDIDATURE OF HOHENZOLLERN. 

If the utter triviality of the pretext were left doubt- 
ful in the debate, if its towering absurdity were not 
plainly apparent, if its simple wickedness did not al- 
ready stand before us, we should find all these char- 
acteristics glaringly manifest in that unjust pretension 
which preceded the objection of form, on which France 
finally acted. A few words will make this plain. 

In a happy moment Spain rose against Queen Isa- 
bella, and amidst cries of "Down with the Bour- 
bons ! " drove her from the throne which she dis- 
honored. This was in September, 1868. Instead of 
constituting a Eepublic at once, in harmony with those 
popular rights which had been proclaimed, the half- 
hearted leaders proceeded to look about for a King, and 
from that time till now they have been in this quest, as 



22 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GERMANY, 

if it were the Holy Grail, or happiness on earth. The 
Eoyal Family of Spain was declared incompetent. 
Therefore a king must be found outside, — and so the 
quest was continued in other lands. One day the 
throne is offered to a prince of Portugal, then to a 
prince of Italy, but declined by each, — how wisely 
the future will show. At last, after a protracted pur- 
suit of nearly two years, the venturesome soldier who 
is captain-general and prime minister. Marshal Prim, 
conceives the idea of offering it to a prince of Germany. 
His luckless victim is Prince Leopold HohenzoUern- 
Sigmaringen, a Catholic, thirty-five years of age, and 
colonel of the first regiment of the Prussian foot-guards, 
whose father, a mediatized German prince, resides at 
Diisseldorf. The Prince had not the good sense to de- 
cline. How his acceptance excited the French Cabinet, 
and became the beginning of the French pretext, I have 
already exposed j and now I come to the pretension itseK. 
By what title did France undertake to interfere with 
the choice of Spain ? If the latter was so foolish as to 
seek a foreigner for king, making a German first among 
Spaniards, by what title did any other Power attempt to 
control its will ? To state the question is to answer it. 
Beginning with an outrage on Spanish independence, 
which the Spain of an earlier day would have resented, 
the next outrage was on Germany, in assuming that an 
insignificant prince of that country could not be per- 
mitted to accept the invitation, — all of which, besides 
being of insufferable insolence, was in that worst dynas- 
tic spirit which looks to princes rather than the people. 
Plainly France was unjustifiable. When I say it was 
none of her business, I give it the mildest condemnation. 
This was the first step in her monstrous hlunder-crime. 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 23 

Its character as a pretext becomes painfally manifest 
when we learn more of the famous Prince Leopold, thus 
invited by Spain and opposed by France. It is true 
that his family name is in part the same as that of the 
Prussian king. Each is HohenzoUern ; but he adds Sig- 
maringen to the name. The two are different branches 
of the same family ; but you must ascend to the twelfth 
century, and count more than thirty degrees, before you 
come to a common ancestor. And yet on this most 
distant and infinitesimal relationship the French preten- 
sion is founded. But audacity changes to the ridiculous 
when it is known that the Prince is nearer in relation- 
ship to the French Emperor than to the Prussian King, 
and this by three different intermarriages, which do not 
go back to the twelfth century. Here is the case. His 
grandfather had for wife the daughter of Joachim Murat, 
King of Naples, and brother-in-law of the first JSTapo- 
leon ; and his father had for wife the daughter of Ste- 
phanie de Beauharnais, the adopted daughter of the first 
Napoleon ; so that Prince Leopold is by his father great- 
grandson of Murat, and by his mother he is grandson 
of Stephanie de Beauharnais, adopted daughter of the 
first Napoleon, and aunt to the present Emperor ; and 
to this may be added still another connection, by the 
marriage of his father's sister with Joachim Napoleon, 
Marquis de Pepoli, grandson of Murat. It was natural 
that a person thus connected with the Imperial Family 
should be a welcome visitor at the Tuileries ; and it is 
easy to believe that Marshal Prim, who offered him the 
throne, was encouraged to believe that the Emperor's 
kinsman and guest would be favorably regarded by 
France. And yet, in the face of these things, and the 
three several family ties, fresh and modern, binding him 



24 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

to France and the French Emperor, the pretension was 
set up that his occupation of the Spanish throne would 
put in peril the interests and the honor of France. 

BECAUSE FEANCE WAS READY. 

In sending defiance to Prussia on this question, the 
French Cabinet selected their own ground. Evidently a 
war had been meditated, and the candidature of Prince 
Leopold from beginning to end supplied a pretext. In 
this conclusion, which is too obvious, we are hardly left 
to inference. The secret was disclosed by Eouher, Presi- 
dent of the Senate, lately the eloquent and unscrupulous 
Minister, when, in an official address to the Emperor, 
immediately after the War Manifesto read by the Prime 
Minister, he declared that France quivered with indig- 
nation at the excesses of an ambition over-excited by 
the one day's good fortune at Sadowa, and then pro- 
ceeded : " Animated by the calm hope which is the true 
force of the Empire, your Majesty knew how to wait ; 
but in the four last years you have perfected an arma- 
ment of soldiers, and raised to the higliest pitch the 
organization of our military forces. Thanks to your 
care, Sire, France is ready." Thus, according to the 
President of the Senate, did France, after waiting, com- 
mence war because she was ready, while, according to 
the Cabinet, it was on the point of honor. Both were 
right. The war was declared because the Emperor 
thought himself ready, and a pretext was found in the 
affair of the telegram. 

Considering the age, and the present demands of civ- 
ilization, such a war stands forth terrific in wrong, 
making the soul rise indignant against it. One reason 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION, 25 

avowed is brutal ; the other is frivolous ; both are crim- 
inal. If we look into the text of the manifesto and the 
speeches of the Cabinet, it is a war founded on a trifle, 
on a straw, on an eggshell. Obviously these were pre- 
texts only. Therefore it is a war of pretexts, the real 
object being the humiliation and dismemberment of Ger- 
many, in the vain hope of exalting the French Em- 
pire and perpetuating a bauble gimcrack crown on the 
head of a boy. By military success and a peace dic- 
tated at Berlin, the Emperor trusted to find himself in 
such condition that, on return to Paris, he could over- 
throw parliamentary government so far as it existed 
there, and re-establish personal government, where all 
depended upon himself, — thus making triumph over 
Germany the means of another triumph over the French 
people. In other times there have been wars as crim- 
inal in origin, where trifle, straw, or eggshell, played its 
part, but they contrasted less with the surrounding civil- 
ization. To this list belong the frequent Dynastic Wars, 
prompted by the interest, the passion, or the whim of 
some one in the Family of Kings. Others have begun 
in recklessness kindred to that we now witness, — as 
when England entered into war with Holland, and for 
reason did not hesitate to allege an offensive picture in 
the Town Hall of Amsterdam. The England of Charles 
II. was hardly less sensitive than the France of Louis 
Napoleon, while in each was similar indifference to con- 
sequences. But France has precedents of her own. 
From the remarkable correspondence of the Princess 
Palatine, Duchess of Orleans, we learn that one of the 
wars with Holland under Louis XIV. was brought on 
by the Minister, De Lyonne, that he might give employ- 
ment out of France to a personage who had made him 

2 



26 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GERMANY, 

jealous of his wife. {Lettre de SI Mars, 1715, Tome I. 
p. 389.) The communicative and exuberant Saint-Simon 
tells us twice over how Louvois, another Minister of 
Louis XIV., being overruled by his master with regard 
to the dimensions of a window at Versailles, was filled 
with the idea that " on account of a few inches in a 
window," as he expressed it, all his services would be 
forgotten, and therefore, to save his place, excited a for- 
eign war that would make him necessary to the king. 
The flames in the Palatinate, devouring the works of 
man, attested his continuing power. (Saint-Simon, Me- 
moires, Tome VII. p. 49 ; XIII. p. 10.) The war became 
general, but, according to the chronicler, it ruined France 
at home, and did not extend it abroad. The French 
Emperor confidently expected to occupy the same his- 
toric region so often burnt and ravaged by French arms, 
with that castle of Heidelberg which repeats the tale of 
blood, and, let me say, on no better reason than his 
royal predecessor, stimulated by an unprincipled Min- 
ister, anxious for personal position. The parallel is 
continued in the curse which the Imperial arms have 
brought on France, 

PEOGRESS OF THE WAR. 

How this war proceeded I need not recount. You 
have all read the record day by day, sorrowing for Hu- 
manity, — how, after briefest interval of preparation or 
hesitation, the two combatants first crossed swords at 
Saarbriicken, within the German frontier, and the 
young Prince Imperial performed his part in picking 
up a bullet from the field, which the Emperor promptly 
reported by telegraph to the Empress, — how this little 



"WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 2.7 

military success is all that was vouclisafed to the man 
who began the war, — how on the 2d of August, four- 
teen days after the formal Declaration, the Germans 
first trod the soil of France, — how soon thereafter vic- 
tory followed, first on the hillsides of Wissembourg and 
then of Woerth, shattering the army of McMahon, to 
which the Empire was looking so confidently, — how 
another large army under Bazaine was driven within 
the strong fortress of Metz, — how all the fortresses, 
bristling with guns and frowning upon Germany, were 
invested, — how battle followed battle on various fields, 
where Death was the great conqueror, — how, with 
help of modern art, war showed itself to be murder by 
machinery, — how McMahon, gathering together his 
scattered men and strengthening them with reinforce- 
ments, attempted to relieve Bazaine, — how at last, 
after long marches, his large army found itself shut up 
at Sedan with a tempest of fire beating upon its hud- 
dled ranks, so that its only safety was capitulation, — 
how with the capitulation of the army was the sub- 
mission of the Emperor himself, who gave his sword to 
the King of Prussia and became prisoner of war, — and 
how, on the reception of this news at Paris, Louis Napo- 
leon and his dynasty were divested of their powers 
and the Empire was lost in the Eepublic. These things 
you know. I need not dwell on them. Not to battles 
and their fearful vicissitudes, where all is incarnadined 
with blood, must we look, but to the ideas which 
prevail, — as for the measure of time we look, not to 
the pendulum in its oscillations, but to the clock in the 
tower, whose striking tells the hours. A great hour for 
Humanity sounded when the Eepublic was proclaimed. 
And this I say, even should it fail again ; for every at- 
tempt contributes to the final triumph. 



28 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

A WAR OF SURPRISES. 

The war, from the pretext at its beginning to the 
capitulation at Sedan, has been a succession of sur- 
prises, where the author of the pretext was a constant 
sufferer. Nor is this strange. Falstaff says, with hu- 
morous point, " See now how wit may be made a jack- 
a-lent, when 't is upon ill employment"; and another 
character, in a play of Beaumont and Fletcher, reveals 
the same evil destiny in stronger terms, when he 
says, — 

" Hell gives us art to reach the depths of sin, 
But leaves us wretched fools when we are in." 

And this was precisely the condition of the French 
Empire. Germany perhaps had one surprise, at the 
sudden adoption of the pretext for war. But the Em- 
pire has known nothing but surprise. A fatal surprise 
was the promptitude with which all the German States, 
outside of Austrian rule, accepted the leadership of 
Prussia, and joined their forces to hers. Differences 
were forgotten, whether the hate of Hanover, the dread 
of Wiirtemberg, the coolness of Bavaria, the opposition 
of Saxony, or the impatience of the Hanse Towns at 
lost importance. Hanover would not rise; the other 
States and cities would not be detached. On the day 
after the reading of the War Manifesto at the French 
tribune, even before the King's speech to the ISTorthern 
Parliament, the Southern States began to move. Ger- 
man unity stood firm, and this was the supreme sur- 
prise for France with which the war began. On one 
day the Emperor in his Official Journal declares his ob- 
ject to be the deliverance of Bavaria from Prussian op- 
pression, and on the very next day the Crown Prince of 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 29 

Prussia, at the head of Bavarian troops, crushes an Im- 
perial army. 

Then came the manifest inferiority of the Imperial 
army, everywhere outnumbered, which was another sur- 
prise, — the manifest inferiority of the Imperial artil- 
lery, also a surprise, — the manifest inferiority of the 
Imperial generals, still a surprise. Above these was 
a prevailing inefficiency and improvidence, which very 
soon became conspicuous, and this was a surprise. The 
strength of Germany, as now exhibited, was a surprise. 
And when the German armies entered France, every 
step was a surprise. Wissembourg was ' a surprise ; so 
was Woerth ; so was Beaumont ; so was Sedan. Every 
encounter was a surprise. Abel Drout, the French 
general who fell bravely fighting at Wissembourg, the 
first sacrifice on the battle-field, was surprised ; so was 
McMahon, not only at the beginning, but at the end. 
He thought that the King and Crown Prince were 
marching on Paris. So they were, — but they turned 
aside for a few days to surprise a whole army of more 
than a hundred thousand men, terrible with cannon and 
newly invented implements of war, under a Marshal 
of France, and wath an Emperor besides. As this suc- 
cession of surprises was crowned with what seemed the 
greatest surprise of all, there remained a greater still in 
the surprise of the French Empire. No Greek Nemesis 
with unrelenting hand ever dealt more incessantly the 
unavoidable blow, until the Empire fell as a dead body 
falls, while the Emperor became a captive and the Em- 
press a fugitive, with their only child a fugitive also. 
The poet says : — 

" Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy 
In sceptred pall come sweeping by." 



30 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

It has swept before the eyes of all. Beneath that 
sceptred pall is the dust of a great Empire, founded and 
ruled by Louis !N"apoleon ; if not the dust of the Em- 
peror also, it is because he was willing to sacrifice others 
rather than himself. 



OTHER FRENCH SOVEREIGNS CAPTURED ON THE 
BATTLE-FIELD. 

Twice before have French sovereigns yielded on the 
battle-field, and become prisoners of war ; but never be- 
fore was capitulation so vast. Do their fates furnish 
any lesson ? At the Battle of Poictiers, memorable in 
English history, John, King of France, became the 
prisoner of Edward the Black Prince. His nobles, one 
after another, fell by his side, but he contended val- 
iantly to the last, until, spent with fatigue and over- 
come by numbers, he surrendered. His son, of the 
same age as the son of the French Emperor, was 
wounded while battling for .his father. The courtesy of 
the English Prince conquered more than his arms. I 
quote the language of Hume : " More touched by Ed- 
ward's generosity than by his own calamities, he con- 
fessed that, notwithstanding his defeat and captivity, 
his honor was still unimpaired, and that, if he yielded 
the victory, it was at least gained by a prince of such 
consummate valor and humanity." (Hume's History of 
England, Chap. XVI.) The Eang was taken to England, 
where, after swelling the triumphal pageant of his con- 
queror, he made a disgraceful treaty for the dismember- 
ment of France, which the indignant nation would not 
ratify. A captivity of more than four years was termi- 
nated by a ransom of three million crowns in gold, — an 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 31 

enormous sum, more than ten million dollars in our 
day. Evidently the King was unfortunate, for he did 
not continue in France, but, under the influence of mo- 
tives differently stated, returned to Engiaad, where he 
died. Surely here is a lesson. 

More famous than John was Francis, with salamander 
crest, also King of France, and rich in gayety, whose 
countenance, depicted by that art of which he was the 
patron, stands forth conspicuous in the line of kings. 
As the French Emperor attacked Germany, so did the 
King enter Italy, and he was equally confident of vic- 
tory. On the field of Pavia he encountered an army of 
Charles V., but commanded by his generals, when, after 
fighting desperately and killing seven men with his own 
hand, he was compelled to surrender. His mother was 
at the time regent of France, and to her he is said to 
have written the sententious letter, " All is lost except 
honor." No such letter was written by Francis, nor do 
we know of any such letter by Louis Napoleon ; but the 
situation of the two regents was identical. Here are 
the words in which Hume describes the condition of the 
earlier : " The princess was struck with the greatness of 
the calamity. She saw the kingdom without a sover- 
eign, without an army, without generals, without money, 
surrounded on every side by implacable and victorious 
enemies, and her chief resource in her present distresses 
were the hopes she entertained of peace and even of 
assistance from the King of England." (Hume's History, 
Chap. XXIX.) Francis became the prisoner of Charles 
v., and was conveyed to Madrid, where, after a year of 
captivity, he was at length released, when, crossing the 
French frontier, he galloped forward, crying out, '' I am 
yet a king ! " Is not the fate of Louis Napoleon pre- 



32 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GERMANY, 

figured in the exile and death of his royal predecessor 
John, rather than in the return of Francis with his de- 
lighted cry ? 

LOUIS NAPOLEOK 

The fall of Louis Napoleon is natural. It is hard to 
see how it could be otherwise, so long as we continue 

" to assert eternal Providence, 
And justify the ways of God to man." 

Had he remained successful to the end, and died peace- 
fully on the throne, his name would have been a per- 
petual encouragement to dishonesty and crime. By 
treachery without parallel, breaking repeated promises 
and his oath of office, he was able to trample on the 
Eepublic. Taking his place in the National Assembly 
after long exile, the adventurer made haste to declare 
exultation in regaining his country and all his rights 
as citizen, with the ejaculation, " The Eepublic has 
done me this good ! let the Eepublic receive my oath of 
gratitude, my oath of devotion ! " and next he pro- 
claimed that there was nobody to surpass him in deter- 
mined consecration "to the defence of order and to 
the establishment of the Eepublic." Good words these. 
Then again, when candidate for the Presidency, in a 
manifesto to the electors he gave another pledge, an- 
nouncing that he " would devote himself altogether, 
without mental reservation, to the establishment of a 
Eepublic, wise in its laws, honest in its counsels, great 
and strong in its acts," and he volunteered further words, 
binding him in special loyalty, saying that he " should 
make it a point of honor to leave to his successor, at 
the end of four years, power strengthened, liberty in- 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 33 

tact, real progress accomplished." How these plain and 
unequivocal engagements were openly broken you shall 
see. 

Chosen by the popular voice, his inauguration took 
place as President of the Eepublic, when he solemnly 
renewed the engagements already assumed. Ascending 
from his seat in the Assembly to the tribune, and hold- 
ing up his hand, he took the following oath of office : 
" In presence of God, and before the French people, 
represented by the National Assembly, I swear to con- 
tinue faithful to the Democratic Eepublic one and indi- 
visible, and to perform all the duties which the Consti- 
tution imposes upon me." This was an oath. Then, 
addressing the Assembly, he said : " The suffrages of the 
nation and the oath which I have just taken prescribe 
my future conduct. My duty is traced. I will perform 
it as a man of honor." Again he attests his honor. 
Then, after deserved tribute to his immediate predeces- 
sor and rival. General Cavaignac, on his loyalty of char- 
acter, and that sentiment of duty which he declares to 
be " the first quality in the chief of a State," he renews 
his vows to the Eepublic, saying, " We have, citizen rep- 
resentatives, a great mission to fulfil ; it is to found a 
Eepublic in the interest of all " ; and he closed amidst 
cheers for the Eepublic. And yet, in the face of this 
oath of of&ce and this succession of most solemn 
pledges, where he twice attests his honor, he has hard- 
ly become President before he commences plotting to 
make himself Emperor, until at last, by violence and 
blood, with brutal butchery in the streets of Paris, he 
succeeded in overthrowing the Eepublic, to which he 
was bound by obligations of gratitude and duty, as well 
as by engagements in such various form. The Em- 
2* c 



34 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

pire was declared. Then followed his marriage, and a 
dynastic ambition to assure the crown for his son. 

Early in life a " charcoal " conspirator against kings, 
he now became a crowned conspirator against republics. 
The name of Eepublic was to him a reproof, while its 
glory was a menace. Against the Eoman Eepublic he 
conspired early ; and when the Eebellion waged by 
Slavery seemed to afford opportunity, he conspired 
against our Eepublic, promoting as far as he dared the 
independence of the Slave States, and at the same time 
on the ruins of the Mexican Eepublic setting up a mock 
Empire. In similar spirit has he conspired against 
German unity, whose just strength promised to be a 
wall against his unprincipled self-seeking. 

This is but an outline of that incomparable perfidy, 
which, after a career of seeming success, is brought to a 
close. Of a fallen man I would say nothing ; but, for 
the sake of humanity, Louis Napoleon should be ex- 
posed. He was of evil example, extending with his in- 
fluence. To measure the vastness of this detriment is 
impossible. In sacrificing the Eepublic to his own 
aggrandizement, in ruling for a dynasty rather than the 
people, in subordinating the peace of the world to his 
own wicked ambition for his boy, he set an example of 
selfishness, and in proportion to his triumph was man- 
kind corrupted in its judgment of human conduct. 
Teaching men to seek ascendency at the expense of 
duty, he demoralized not only France, but the world. 
Unquestionably part of this evil example was his false- 
hood to the Eepublic. Promise, pledge, honor, oath, 
were all violated in this monstrous treason. Never in 
history was greater turpitude. Unquestionably he could 
have saved the Eepublic, but he preferred his own ex- 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 35 

altation. As I am a Eepiiblican, and believe repub- 
lican institutions for the good of mankind, I cannot 
pardon the traitor. The people of France are ignorant ; 
he did not care to have them educated, for their igno- 
rance was his strength. With education bestowed, the 
Republic would have been assured. And even after 
the Empire, had he thought more of education and less 
of his dynasty, there would have been a civilization 
throughout France making war impossible. Unques- , 
tionably the present war is his work, instituted for his 
imagined advantage. Bacon, in one of his remarkable 
apothegms, tells us that " Extreme self-lovers will set a 
man's house on fire, though it were but to roast their 
eggs." Louis Napoleon has set Europe on fire to roast 
his. 

Beyond the continuing offence of his public life, 1 
charge upon him three special and unpardonable crimes : 
first, that violation of public duty and public faith, con- 
trary to all solemnities of promise, by which the whole 
order of society was weakened and human character was 
degraded ; secondly, disloyalty to republican institutions, 
so that through him the Republic has been arrested in 
Europe; and, thirdly, this cruel and causeless war of 
which he is the guilty author. 

RETRIBUTION. 

Of familiar texts in Scripture, there is one which, 
since the murderous outbreak, has been of constant ap- 
plicability and force. You know it: "All they that 
take the sword shall perish with the sword " : and these 
words are addressed to nations as to individuals. France 
took the sword against Germany, and now lies bleeding 



36 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GEEMANY, 

at every pore. Louis Napoleon took the sword, and is 
naught. Already in that coup d'etat by which he over- 
threw the Eepublic he took the sword, and now the Em- 
pire, which was the work of his hands, expires. In 
Mexico again he took the sword, and again paid the 
fearful penalty, while the Austrian Archduke, who, 
yielding to his pressure, made himself Emperor there, 
was shot by order of the Mexican President, an Indian 
, of unmixed blood. And here there was retribution, 
not only for the French Emperor, but far beyond. I 
know not if there be invisible threads by which the 
present is attached to the distant past, making the de- 
scendant suffer even for a distant ancestor, but I cannot 
forget that Maximilian was derived from that very 
family of Charles V. whose conquering general, Cortes, 
stretched the Indian Guatimozin upon a bed of fire, and 
afterwards executed him on a tree. The death of Maxi- 
milian was tardy retribution for the death of Guatimo- 
zin. And thus in this world is wrong avenged, some- 
times after many generations. The fall of the French 
Emperor is an illustration of that same retribution 
which is so constant. While he yet lives, judgment 
has begun. 

If I accumulate instances, it is because the certainty 
of retribution for wrong, and especially for the great 
wrong of war, is a lesson of the present duel to be im- 
pressed. Take notice, all who would appeal to war, 
that the way of the transgressor is hard, and sooner or 
later he is overtaken. The ban may fall tardily, but it 
is sure to fall. 

Retribution in another form has already visited France ; 
nor is its terrible vengeance yet spent. Not only are 
populous cities, all throbbing with life and fiUed with 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 37 

innocent households, subjected to siege, but to bombard- 
ment also, being that most ruthless trial of war, where 
non-combatants, including women and children, sick 
and aged, share with the soldier his peculiar perils, and 
suffer alike with him. All are equal before the hideous 
shell, crashing, bursting, destroying, killuig, and changing 
the fairest scene into blood-spattered wreck. Against 
its vengeful, slaughterous descent there is no protection 
for the people, nothing but an uncertain shelter in cel- 
lars, or, it may be, in the common sewers. Already 
Strasbourg, Toul, and Metz have been called to endure 
this indiscriminate massacre, where there is no distinc- 
tion of persons ; and now the same fate is threatened 
to Paris the beautiful, with its thronging population 
counted by the million. Thus is the ancient chalice 
which France handed to others now commended to her 
own lips. It was France that first in history adopted 
this method of war. Long ago, under Louis XIV., it 
became a favorite ; but it has not escaped the judgment 
of history. Voltaire, with elegant pen, records that 
" this art, carried soon among other nations, served only 
to multiply human calamities, and more than once was 
dreadful to France, where it was invented." (Voltaire, 
Siech de Louis XIV., Chap. XIV.) The bombardment of 
Luxemburg in 1683 drew from Sismondi, always 
humane and refined, words applicable to recent events. 
" Louis XIV.," he says, " was the first to put in practice 
the atrocious method, newly invented, of bombarding 
towns, .... of attacking, not fortifications, but private 
houses, not soldiers, but peaceable inhabitants, women 
and children, and of confounding thousands of private 
crimes, each one of which would cause horror, in one 
great public crime, one great disaster, which he re- 



38 THE DUEL BETWEEN FKANCE AND GERMANY, 

garded only as one of the catastrophes of war." (Sis- 
mondij Histoire des Frangais, Tome XXV. p. 452.) Again 
is the saying fulfilled, "All they that take the sword 
shall perish with the sword." No lapse of time can 
avert the inexorable law. Macbeth saw it in his terri- 
ble imaginings when he said, — 

"' But in these cases 
We still have judgment here; that we but teach 
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return 
To plague the inventor." 

And what instruction more bloody than the bombard- 
ment of a city, which now returns to plague the French 
people ? 

Thus is history something more even than philosophy 
teaching by example ; it is sermon with argument and 
exhortation. The simple record of nations preaches; 
-and whether you regard reason or the affections, it is the 
same. If nations were wise or humane, they would not 
fight. 

PEACE AFTER CAPITULATIOISr AT SEDAK. 

Vain are lessons of the past or texts of prudence 
against that spirit of War which finds sanction and 
regulation in International Law. So long as the war 
system continues, men will fight. While I speak, the 
two champions still stand front to front, Germany exult- 
ing in victory, but France in no respect submissive. 
The duel still rages, although one of the champions is 
pressed to earth, as in that early combat where the 
Chevalier Bayard, so eminent in chivalry, thrust his 
dagger into the nostrils of his fallen foe, and then 
dragged his dead body off the field. History now re- 
peats itself, and we witness in Germany the very con- 
duct condemned in the famous French knight. 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 39 

The French Emperor was the aggressor. He began 
this fatal duel. Let him faU, — but not the people of 
France. Cruelly already have they expiated their of- 
fence in accepting such a ruler. Not always should they 
suffer. Enough of waste, enough of sacrifice, enough 
of slaughter have they undergone. Enough have they 
felt the accursed hoof of war. 

It is easy to see now, that, after the capitulation at 
Sedan, there was a double mistake : first, on the part 
of Germany, which, as magnanimous conqueror, should 
have proposed peace, thus conquering in character as in 
arms ; and, secondly, on the part of the Eepublic, which 
should have declined to wage a war of Imperialism 
against which the Eepublican leaders had so earnestly 
protested. With the capitulation of the Emperor the 
dynastic question was closed. There was no longer 
pretension or pretext, nor was there occasion for war. 
The two parties should have come to an understanding. 
Why continue this terrible homicidal, fratricidal, suici- 
dal combat, fraught with mutual death and sacrifice ? 
Why march on Paris ? Why beleaguer Paris ? Wliy 
bombard Paris ? To what end ? If for the humilia- 
tion of France, then must it be condemned. 

THREE ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS OF PEACE. 

In arriving at terms of peace, there are at least three 
conditions which cannot be overlooked rn the interest 
of civilization, and that the peace may be such in 
reality as in name, and not an armistice only, — three 
postulates which stand above all question, and domi- 
nate this debate, so that any essential departure from 
them must end in wretched failure. 



40 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GEEMANY, 

The first is the natural requirement of Germany, 
that there shall be completest guaranty against future 
aggression, constituting what is so well known among 
us as " Security for the Future." Count Bismarck, 
with an exaggeration hardly pardonable, alleges more 
than twenty invasions of Germany by France, and de- 
clares that these must be stopped forever. Many or few, 
they must be stopped forever. The second condition to 
be regarded is the natural requirement of France, that 
the guaranty, while sufficient, shall be such as not to 
wound needlessly the sentiments of the French people, 
or to offend any principle of public law. It is difficult 
to question these two postulates, at least in the abstract. 
Only when we come to the application is there oppor- 
tunity for difference. The third postulate, demanded 
alike by justice and humanity, is the establishment of 
some rule or precedent by which the recurrence of such 
a barbarous duel shall be prevented. It will not be 
enough to obtain a guaranty for Germany ; there must 
be a guaranty for civilization itself. 

On careful inquiry, it will be seen that all these can 
be accomplished in one way only, which I will describe, 
when I have first shown what is now put forward and 
discussed as the claim of Germany, under two different 
heads, indemnity and guaranty. 

INDEMNITY OF GERMANY. 

I have already spoken of guaranty as an essential 
condition. Indemnity is not essential. At the close 
of our war with Slavery we said nothing of indemnity. 
For the life of the citizen there could be no indemnity ; 
nor was it practicable even for the treasure sacrificed. 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 41 

Security for the Future was all that our nation required, 
' and this was found in provisions of law and constitu- 
tion establishing equal rights. Froni various intima- 
tions it is evident that Germany will not be content 
without indemnity in money on a large scale ; and it is 
also evident that France, the aggressor, cannot, when 
conquered, deny liability to a certain extent. The 
question will be on the amount. Already German 
calculators begin to array their unrelenting figures. 
One of these insists that the indemnity shall not only 
cover outlay for the German army, — pensions of wid- 
ows and invalids, — maintenance and support of French 
wounded and prisoners, — compensation to Germans 
expelled from France, — also damage suffered by the 
territory to be annexed, especially Strasbourg ; but it is 
also to cover indirect damages, large in amount, — as, 
loss to the nation from change of productive laborers 
into soldiers, — loss from killing and disabling so many 
laborers, — and, generally, loss from suspension of trade 
and manufactures, depreciation of national property, 
and diminution of the public revenues, — all of which, 
according to a recent estimate, reach the fearful sum- 
total of 4,935,000,000 francs or nearly one thousand 
million dollars. Of this sum, 1,255,000,000 francs are 
on account of the army, 1,230,000,000 for direct dam- 
age, 2,250,000,000 for indirect damage, and 200,000,000 
for damage to the reconquered provinces. Still further, 
the Berlin Chamber of Commerce insists on indemnity 
not only for actual loss of ships and cargoes from the 
blockade, but also for damages on account of detention. 
Much of this many-headed account, which I introduce 
in order to open the case in its extent, will be opposed 
by France, as fabulous, consequential, and remote. The 



42 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GEEMANY, 

practical question will be, Can one nation do wrong to 
another without paying for the damage, whatever it ' 
may be, direct or indirect, — always provided it be 
susceptible of estimate ? Here I content myself with 
the remark, that, Avhile, in the settlement of inter- 
national differences, there is no place for technicality, 
there is always room for moderation. 

GUARANTY OF DISMEMBERMENT. 

Vast as may be the claim of indemnity, it opens no 
question so calculated to touch the sensibilities of France 
as the claim of guaranty already announced by Germany. 
On this head we are not left to conjecture. From her 
first victory we have been assured that Germany would 
claim Alsace and German Lorraine, with their famous 
strongholds ; and now we have the statement of Count 
Bismarck, in a diplomatic circular, that he expects to 
remove the German frontier further west, meaning to 
the Vosges Mountains, if not to the Moselle also, and 
to convert the fortresses into what he calls "defensive 
strongholds of Germany." Then, with larger view, he 
declares, that, " in rendering it more difficult for France, 
from whom all European troubles have so long pro- 
ceeded, to assume the offensive, we likewise promote the 
common interest of Europe, which demands the pres- 
ervation of peace." Here is just recognition of peace 
as the common interest of Europe, to be assured by dis- 
abling France. How shall this be done ? The German 
Minister sees nothing but dismemberment, consecrated 
by a Treaty of Peace. With diplomatic shears he would 
cut off a portion of French territory, and, taking from 
it the name of France, stamp upon it the trade-mark of 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 43 

Germany. Two of its richest and most precious prov- 
inces, for two centuries constituent parts of the great 
nation, with that ancient cathedral city, the pride of 
the Ehine, long years ago fortified by Vauban as " the 
strongest barrier of France," are to be severed, and with 
them a large and industrious population, which, while 
preserving the German language, have so far blended 
with France as to become Frenchmen. This is the 
German proposition, which I call the guaranty of Dis- 
memberment. 

One argument for this proposition is brushed aside 
easily. Had the fortune of war been adverse to Ger- 
many, it is said, peace would have been dictated at Ber- 
lin, perhaps at Kiinigsberg, and France would have 
carried her frontier eastward to the Ehine, dismembering 
Germany. Such, I doubt not, would have been the 
attempt. The conception is entirely worthy of that 
Imperial levity with which the war began. But the 
madcap menace of the French Empire cannot be the 
measure of German justice. It is for Germany to show, 
that, notwithstanding this wildness, she knows how to 
be just. Dismemberment on this account would be only 
another form of retaliation ; but retaliation is barbarous. 

To the argument, that these provinces, with their 
strongholds, are needed for the defence of Germany, 
there is the obvious reply, that, if cut off from France 
contrary to the wishes of the local population, and with 
the French people in chronic irritation on this account, 
they will be places of weakness rather than strength, 
strongholds of disaffection rather than defence, to be 
held always at the cannon's mouth. Does Germany 
seek lasting peace ? Not in this way can it be had. A 
painful exaction, enforced by triumphant arms, must 



44 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GEEMANY, 

create a sentiment of hostility in France, suppressed for 
a season, but ready at a propitious moment to break 
forth in violence, so that between the two conterminous 
nations there will be nothing better than a peace where 
each sleeps on its arms, — which is but an Armed Peace. 
Such for weary years has been the condition of nations. 
Is Germany determined to prolong the awful curse ? 
Will her most enlightened people, with poetry, music, 
literature, philosophy, science, and religion as constant 
ministers, to whom has been opened in rarest degree the 
whole book of knowledge, persevere in a brutal policy 
belonging to another age, and utterly alien to that supe- 
rior civihzation which is so truly theirs ? 

There is another consideration, not only of justice, but 
of public law, which cannot be overcome.. The people 
of these provinces are unwilling to be separated from 
France. This is enough. France cannot sell or trans- 
fer them against their consent. Consult the great 
masters, and you will find their concurring authority. 
Grotius, from whom on such a question there can be no 
appeal, adjudges : " In the alienation of part of the sov- 
ereignty it is required that the part to he alienated consent 
to the actr According to him, it must not be supposed 
" that the body should have the right of cutting off parts 
from itself and giving them into the authority of an- 
other." (Grotius, De Jure Belli ac Pads, Lib. II. Cap. 
VI. § 4.) Of the same opinion is Puffendorff, declar- 
ing : " The sovereign who attempts to transfer his king- 
dom to another by his sole authority does an act in 
itself null and void, and not binding on his subjects. 
To make such a conveyance valid, the consent of the 
people is required, as well as of the Prince. (Puffen- 
dorff, Law of Nature and Nations, Book YIII. Chap. 5, 



"WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 45 

§ 9.) Yattel crowns this testimony, when he adds, that 
a province " abandoned and dismembered is not obliged 
to receive the new master attempted to be given it." 
(Yattel, Book II. Chap. 3, § 264.) Before such texts, 
stronger than a fortress, the soldiers of Germany must 
halt. 

ISTor can it be forgotten how inconsistent is the guar- 
anty of Dismemberment with that heroic passion for 
national unity which is the glory of Germany. National 
unity is not less the right of France than of Germany ; 
and these provinces, though in former centuries German, 
and still preserving the German speech, belong to the 
existing unity of France, — unless, according to the pop- 
ular song, the German's Fatherland extends 

" Far as the German accent rings " ; 

and then the conqueror must insist on Switzerland ; and 
why not cross the Atlantic, to dictate laws in Pennsyl- 
vania and Chicago ? But this same song has a better 
verse, calling that the German's Fatherland 

" Where in the heart love -warmly lies." 

But in these coveted provinces it is the love for France, 
and not for Germany, which prevails. 

GUARANTY OF DISARMAMENT. 

The guaranty of Dismemberment, when brought to 
the touchstone of the three essential conditions, is found 
wanting. Dismissing it as unsatisfactory, I come to 
that other guaranty where these conditions are all ful- 
filled, and we find security for Germany without offence 
to the just sentiments of France, and also a new safe- 
guard to civilization. Against the guaranty of Dismem- 
berment I oppose the guaranty of Disarmament. By 



46 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

Disarmament I mean the razing of tlie Frencli fortifica- 
tions and tlie abolition of the standing army, except 
that minimum of force required for purposes of police. 
How completely this satisfies the conditions already 
named is obvious. For Germany there would be on the 
side of France absolute repose, so that Count Bismarck 
need not fear another invasion, — while France, saved 
from intolerable humiliation, would herself be free to 
profit by the new civilization. 

Nor is this guaranty otherwise than practical in every 
respect, and the more it is examined will its inestimable 
advantage be apparent. 

1. There is, first, its most obvious economy, which is 
so glaring that, according to a familiar French expression, 
" it leaps into the eyes." Undertaking even briefly to 
set it forth, I seem to follow the proA^erb and " show the 
sun with a lantern." According to the Almanach de 
Gotha, the appropriations for the army of France, dur- 
ing the year of peace before the war, were 588,852,970 
francs, — or about one hundred and seventeen millions 
of dollars. Give up the Standing Army and this con- 
siderable sum disappears from the annual budget. But 
this retrenchment represents only partially the prodi- 
gious economy. Beyond the annual outlay is the loss 
to the nation by the change of producers into non-pro- 
ducers. Admitting that in France the average annual 
production of a soldier usefully employed would be only 
fifty dollars, and multiplying this small allowance by 
the numbers of the Standing Army, you have another 
amount to be piled upon the military appropriations. 
Is it too much to expect that this surpassing waste shall 
be stopped ? Must the extravagance born of war, and 
nursed by long tradition, continue to drain the resources 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 47 

of the land ? Where is reason ? Where humanity ? A 
decree abolishing the Standing Army would be better 
for the French people, and more productive, than the 
richest gold-mine discovered in every department of 
France. Nor can imagination picture the fruitful result. 
I speak now only in the light of economy. Relieved 
from intolerable burden, industry would lift itself to 
unimagined labors, and society be quickened anew. 

2. Beyond this economy, which need not be argued, 
is the positive advantage, if not necessity, of such change 
for France. I do not speak on general grounds applica- 
ble to all nations, but on grounds peculiar to France at 
the present moment. Emerging from a most destructive 
war, she will be subjected to enormous and unj)rece- 
dented contributions of every kind. After satisfying 
Germany, she will find other obligations at home, — 
some pressing directly upon the nation, and others upon 
individuals. Beyond the outstanding pay of soldiers, 
requisitions for supplies, pensions for the wounded and 
the families of the dead, and other extraordinary liabili- 
ties accumulating as never before in the same time, 
there will be the duty of renewing that internal pros- 
perity which has received such a shock ; and here the 
work of restoration will be costly, whether to the nation 
or the individual. Eevenue must be regained ; roads 
and bridges repaired ; markets supplied ; nor can we 
omit the large and multitudinous losses from ravage of 
fields, seizure of stock, suspension of business, stoppage 
of manufactures, interference with agriculture, and the 
whole terrible drain of war by which the people are im- 
poverished and disabled. If to the necessary appro- 
priation and expenditure for all these things is super- 
added the annual tax of a Standing Army, and that 



48 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

other draft from the change of producers into non-pro- 
ducers, plainly here is a supplementary burden of crush- 
ing weight. Talk of the last feather breaking the back of 
the camel, — but never was camel loaded down as France. 

3. Beyond even these considerations of economy and 
advantage I put the transcendent, priceless benefit of 
Disarmament in the assurance of peace. Disarmament 
substitutes the constable for the soldier, and reduces the 
Standing Army to a police. The argument assumes, 
first, the needlessness of a Standing Army, and, secondly, 
its evil influence. Both of these points were touched 
at an early day by the wise Chancellor of England, Sir 
Thomas More, when, in his practical and personal In- 
troduction to " Utopia " he alludes to what he calls the 
"bad custom" of keeping many servants, and then 
says: "In France there is yet a more pestiferous sort 
of people ; for the whole country is full of soldiers, 
still kept up in time of peace, — if such a state of a 
nation may be called a peace." Then, proceeding with 
his judgment, the Chancellor holds up what he calls 
those " pretended statesmen " whose maxim is that it 
" is necessary for the public safety to have a good body 
of veteran soldiers ever in readiness." And after say- 
ing that these pretended statesmen " sometimes seek 
occasions for making war, that they may train up their 
soldiers in the art of cutting throats," he adds, in words 
soon to be tested, " But France has learned to its cost 
how dangerous it is to feed such beasts." It will be 
well, if France has learned this important lesson. The 
time has come to practise it. 

All history is a vain word, and all experience is at 
fault, if large War Preparations, of which the Standing 
Army is the type, have not been constant provocatives 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 49 

of war. Pretended protectors against war, they have 
been real instigators to war. They have excited the 
evil against which they were to guard. The habit of 
wearing arms in private life exercised a kindred in- 
fluence. So long as this habit continued society was 
darkened by personal combat, street-fight, duel, and as- 
sassination. The Standing Army is to the nation what 
the sword was to tlie modern gentleman, the stiletto to 
the Italian, the knife to the Spaniard, the pistol to our 
slave-master, — furnishing, like these, the means of 
death ; and its possessor is not slow to use it. In stat- 
ing the operation of this system, we are not left to in- 
ference. As France, according to Sir Thomas More, 
shows " how dangerous it is to feed such beasts," so 
does Prussia, in ever-memorable instance, which speaks 
now with more than ordinary authority, show precisely 
how the Standing Army may become the incentive to 
war. Frederick, the warrior king, is our witness. With 
honesty or impudence beyond parallel, he did not hesi- 
tate to record in his Memoirs, among the reasons for his 
war upon Maria Theresa, that, on coming to the throne, 
he found himself with "troops always ready to act." 
Voltaire, when called to revise the royal memoirs, erased 
this confession, but preserved a copy, so that by his 
literary activity we have this kingly authority for the 
mischief from a Standing Army. How complete a weap- 
on was that army may be learned from Lafayette, who, 
in a letter to Washington, in 1786, after a visit to the 
King, described it thus : " Nothing can be compared to 
the beauty of the troops, to the discipline which reigns 
in all their ranks, to the simplicity of their movements, 
to the uniformity of their regiments. All the situations 
which can be supposed in war, all the movements which 

3 D 



50 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

these must necessitate, have been by constant habit so 
inculcated in their heads, that all these operations are 
done almost mechanically." (Lafayette, Memoires, Tome 
II. p. 133.) Nothing better has been devised since the 
Macedonian phalanx or the Eoman legion. With such 
a weapon ready to his hands, the King struck Maria 
Theresa. And think you that the present duel between 
France and Germany could have been waged had not 
both nations found themselves, like Frederick of Prussia, 
" with troops always ready to act " ? It was the posses- 
sion of these troops which made the two parties rush 
so swiftly to the combat. Is not the lesson perfect ? 
Already individuals have disarmed. Civilization re- 
quires that nations shall do likewise. 

Thus is Disarmament enforced on three several 
grounds : first, economy ; secondly, positive advantage, 
if not necessity, for France ; and, thirdly, assurance of 
peace. No other guaranty promises so much. Does 
any other guaranty promise anything beyond the acci- 
dent of force ? Nor would France be alone. Dismiss- 
ing to the arts of peace the large army victorious over 
Slavery, our Eepublic has shown how disarmament can 
be accomplished. The example of France, so entirely 
reasonable, so profitable, so pacific, and so harmonious 
with ours, would spread. Conquering Germany could 
not resist its influence. Nations are taught by example 
more than by precept, and either is better than force. 
Other nations would follow ; nor would Eussia, elevated 
by her great act of enfranchisement, fail to seize her 
sublime opportunity. Popular rights, which are strong- 
est always in assured peace, would have new triumphs. 
Instead of Trial by Battle for the decision of differences 
between nations, there would be peaceful substitutes, as 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION, 51 

Arbitration, or, it may be, a Congress of Nations, and 
the United States of Europe would appear above the 
subsiding waters. The old juggle of Balance of Power, 
which has rested like a nightmare on Europe, would 
disappear, like that other less bloody fiction of Balance 
of Trade, and nations, like individuals, would all be 
equal before the law. Here our own country furnishes 
an illustration. So long as Slavery prevailed among us 
there was an attempt to preserve what was designated 
balance of power between the North and South, pivot- 
ing on Slavery, — just as in Europe there has been an 
attempt to preserve balance of power among nations 
pivoting on War. Too tardily is it seen that this 
famous balance, which has played such a part at home 
and abroad, is but an artificial contrivance instituted by 
power, which must give place to a simple accord derived 
from the natural condition of things. Why should not 
the harmony which has begun at home be extended 
abroad ? Practicable and beneficent here, it must be 
the same there. Then M^ould nations exist without per- 
petual and reciprocal watchfulness. But the first step 
is to discard the wasteful, oppressive, and pernicious 
provocative to war, which is yet maintained at such ter- 
rible cost. To-day this glorious advance is presented to 
France and Germany. 

KING WILLIAM AND COUNT BISMARCK. 

Two personages at this moment hold in their hands 
the great question teeming with a new civilization. 
Honest and determined, both are patriotic rather than 
cosmopolitan or Christian, believing in Prussia rather 
than Humanity. And the patriotism so strong in each 



52 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

keeps still the early tinge of iron. I refer to King 
William and liis Prime Minister, Count Bismarck. 

More than any other European sovereign, William 
of Prussia possesses the infatuation of "divine right." 
He believes that he was appointed by God to be King, 
— differing here from Louis Napoleon, who in a spirit of 
compromise entitled himself Emperor " by the grace of 
God and the national will." This infatuation was illus- 
trated at his coronation in ancient Konigsberg, first 
home of Prussian royalty, and better famous as birth- 
place and lifelong home of Emmanuel Kant, when the 
King enacted a scene of melodrama which might be 
transferred from the church to the theatre. No other 
person was allowed to place the crown on his royal 
head. Lifting it from the altar, where it rested, he 
placed it there himself, in sign that he held it from 
Heaven and not from man, and next placed another on 
the head of the Queen, in sign that her dignity was 
derived from him. Then, turning round, he brandished 
a gigantic sword in testimony of readiness to defend 
the nation. Since the Battle of Sadowa, when the 
Austrian Empire was so suddenly shattered, he has 
believed himself providential swof d-bearer of Germany, 
destined, perhaps, to revive the old glories of Barba- 
rossa. His habits are soldierly, and, notwithstanding 
his seventy-three winters, he continues to find pleasure 
in wearing the spiked helmet of the Prussian camp. 
Eepublicans smile wjien he speaks of " my army," " my 
allies," and " my people " ; but this egotism is the nat- 
ural expression of the monarchical character, especially 
where the monarch believes that he holds by " divine 
right." His public conduct is in harmony with these 
conditions. He is a Protestant, and rules the land of 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 53 

Luther, but lie is no friend to modern Eeform. The 
venerable system of war and prerogative is part of his 
inheritance handed down from fighting despots, and he 
evidently believes in it. 

His Minister, Count Bismarck, is the partisan of 
" divine right," and, like the King, regards with satis- 
faction that hierarchical feudalism from which they are 
both derived. He is noble and believes in nobihty. 
He believes also in force, as if he had the blood of the 
god Thor. He believes in war, and does not hesitate to 
throw its "iron dice," insisting upon the rigors of the 
game. As the German question began to lower, his 
policy was most persistent. " Not through speeches 
and votes of the majority," he said, in 1862, " are the 
great questions of the time decided, — that was the 
blunder of 1848 and 1849, — hut hy steel and blood." 
Thus explicit was he. Having a policy, he became its 
representative, and very soon thereafter controlled the 
counsels of his sovereign, coming swiftly before the 
world ; and yet his elevation was tardy. Born in 1815, 
he did not enter upon diplomacy until 1851, when 
thirty-six years of age, and only in 1862 became Prus- 
sian Minister at Paris, whence he was soon transferred 
to the Cabinet at Berlin as Prime Minister. Down to 
that time he was little known. His name is not 
found in any edition of the bulky French Dictionary 
of Contemporaries (Vapereau, Dictionnaire des Con- 
tcmporains), not even its " additions and rectifications," 
until the Supplement of 1863. But from this time he 
drew so large a share of public attention that the con- 
temporary press of the world became the dictionary 
where his name was always found. Nobody doubts his 
intellectual resources, his courage or strength of will, but 



54 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GEEMANY, 

it is felt that he is naturally hard, and little affected by hu- 
man sympathy. Therefore is he an excellent war minister. 
It remains to be seen if he will do as much for peace. 
His one idea has been the unity of Germany under the 
primacy of Prussia, and here he encountered Austria, 
as he now encounters France. But in that larger unity, 
where nations will be conjoined in harmony, he can do 
less, so long at least as he continues a fanatic for kings 
and a cynic towards popular institutions. 

Such is the King and such his Minister. I have de- 
scribed them that you may see how little help the great 
ideas already germinating from bloody fields will re- 
ceive from them. In this respect they are as one. 

TWO INFLUENCES VERSUS WAR SYSTEM. 

Beyond the most persuasive influence of civilization, 
pleading as never before, with voice of reason and af- 
fection, that the universal tyrant and master-evil of 
Christendom, the War System, may cease, and the 
means now absorbed in its support be employed for the 
benefit of the Human Family, there are two special in- 
fluences which cannot be without weight at this time. 
The first is German authority in the writings of philos- 
ophers, by whom Germany rules in thought ; and the 
second is the uprising of the Working-Men : both 
against war as acknowledged arbiter between nations, 
and insisting upon peaceful substitutes. 

AUTHORITY OF GERMAN MIND. 

More than any other nation Germany has suffered 
from war. Without that fatal gift of beauty, " a dowry 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 55 

fraught with never-ending pains," which tempted the 
foreigner to Italy, her lot has been hardly less wretched ; 
but Germany has differed from Italy in the successful 
bravery with which she repelled the invader. Tacitus 
says of her people, that, "girdled by many and most 
powerful tribes, they have been safe, not by submission, 
but by battles and perils " ; ^ and this same character, 
thus epigrammatically presented, has continued ever 
since. Yet this was not without that painful experi- 
ence which teaches what art has so often attempted to 
picture and eloquence to describe, "The Miseries of 
War." Again in that same fearless spirit has Germany 
driven back the invader, while war is seen anew in its 
atrocious works. But it was not merely the " Miseries 
of War " which Germans regarded. The German mind 
is philosophical and scientific, and it early saw the irra- 
tional character of the War System. It is well known 
that Henry IV. of France conceived the idea of Har- 
mony among nations without War, and his plan was 
taken up and elaborated in numerous writings by the 
good Abbe de Saint-Pierre, so that he made it his own. 
Eousseau in his treatise on the subject popularized 
Saint-Pierre. But it is to Germany that we must look 
for the most complete and practical development of this 
beautiful idea. If French in origin, it is German now 
in authority. 

The greatest minds in Germany have dealt with this 
problem, and given to its solution the exactness of sci- 
ence. No greater have been applied to any question. 
Foremost in this list, in time and in fame, is Leibnitz, 
that marvel of human intelligence, second, perhaps, to 

1- " Plurimis ac valentissimis nationibus cincti, non per obsequium, sed 
proeliis et periclitando tuti sunt." — De Moribus Germ., cap. 4 



56 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GEEMANY, 

none in history, who, on reading the Project for Perpet- 
ual Peace by the Abbe de Saint-Pierre, pronounced this 
judgment : " I have read it with attention, and am per- 
suaded that such a Project is on the whole feasible, and 
that its execution would be one of the most useful 
things in the world." (Leibnitz, Opera, Vol. Y. pp. 56 - 
62, edit. Dutens.) Thus did Leibnitz afl&rm its feasibility 
and its immense usefulness. Other minds followed, 
in no apparent concert, but in unison. I may be par- 
doned, if, without being too bibliographical, I name some 
of these witnesses. 

At Gottingen, renowned for its University, the ques- 
tion was opened, at the close of the Seven Years' War 
in 1763, in a work by Totze, whose character appears in 
its title, "Permanent and Universal Peace, according 
to the Plan of Henry lY." {Eiviger und allgemeiner 
Friede nach der Entivurf HeinricJis IV.) At Leipzig, 
also the seat of a University, the subject was presented 
in 1767 by Lilienfeld, in a treatise of much complete- 
ness, under the name of " New Constitution for States " 
{Neues Staatsgebdude), where, after exposing the wretch- 
ed chances of the battle-field and the expense of ar- 
maments in time of peace, the author urges submission to 
Arbitrators, unless a Supreme Tribunal is established to 
administer International Law and to judge between na- 
tions. In 1804 appeared another work, of singular 
clearness and force, by Karl Schwab, entitled " Of Un- 
avoidable Injustice " ( Ueher das unvermeidliche Unrecht), 
where the author describes what he calls the Universal 
State, in which nations will, be to each other as citizens 
in the Municipal State. He is not so visionary as to 
imagine that justice will always be inviolate between 
nations in the Universal State, for it is not always so 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 57 

between citizens in the Municipal State ; but he confi- 
dently looks to the establishment between nations of the 
rules which now subsist between citizens, whose differ- 
ences are settled peaceably by judicial tribunals. 

These works, justly important for the light they shed, 
and as expressions of a growing sentiment, are eclipsed 
in the contributions of the great teacher, Emmanuel 
Kant, who, after his fame in philosophy was established, 
so that his works were discussed and expounded not 
only throughout Germany, but in other lands, in 1796 
gave to the world a treatise entitled " On Perpetual 
Peace " {Zwm ewigen Frieden), which was promptly 
translated into French, Danish, and Dutch. Two other 
works by him attest his interest in the subject, the first 
entitled " Idea for a General History in a Cosmopolitan 
View " {Idee, zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in loeltbilr- 
gerliclier Absicht), and the other, " Metaphysical Ele- 
ments of Jurisprudence " {Metaphysische Anfangsgrund,e 
der RecMslehre). His grasp was complete. A treaty of 
peace which tacitly acknowledges the right to wage war, 
as all treaties now do, according to Kant, is nothing more 
than a truce. An individual war may be ended, but not 
the state of war ; so that, even after cessation of hostili- 
ties, there will be constant fear of their renewal, while 
the armaments known as Peace Establishments will tend 
to provoke them. All this should be changed, and na- 
tions should form one comprehensive Federation, which, 
receiving other nations within its fold, will at last em- 
brace the civilized world ; and such, in the judgment of 
Kant, was the irresistible tendency of nations. To a 
French poet we are indebted for the most suggestive 
term, " United States of Europe " ; but this is noth- 
ing but the Federation of the illustrious German philos- 

3* 



58 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GEEMANY, 

opher. IsTor was Kant alone among his great contem- 
poraries. That other philosopher, Fichte, whose name 
at the time was second only to that of Kant, in his 
" Groundwork of the Law of Nature " {Grundlage des 
NaturrecMs), published in 1796, also urges a Federation 
of Nations, with an established tribunal to which all 
should submit. Much better for civilization, had the 
King at Konigsberg, instead of brandishing his gigantic 
sword, hearkened to the voice of Kant, renewed by 
Fichte. 

With these German oracles in its support, the cause 
cannot be put aside. Even in the midst of war. Philos- 
ophy will be heard, especially when she speaks words 
of concurring authority that touch a chord in every 
heart. Leibnitz, Kant, and Fichte, a mighty triumvi- 
rate of intelligence, unite in testimony. As Germany, 
beyond any other nation, has given to the idea of Or- 
ganized Peace the warrant of philosophy, it only re- 
mains now that it should insist upon its practical 
application. There should be no delay. Long enough 
has mankind waited while the river of blood flowed on. 

UPRISING OF WORKING-MEN. 

The working-men of Europe, not excepting Germany, 
respond to the mandate of Philosophy, and insist that 
the War System shall be abolished. At public meet- 
ings, in formal resolutions and addresses, they have 
declared war against War, and they will not be silenced. 
This is not the first time in which working-men have 
made themselves heard for international justice. I can- 
not forget, that, while Slavery was waging war against 
our nation, the working-men of Belgium in public meet- 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 59 

ing protested against that precocious Proclamation of 
Belligerent Rights by which the British Government 
gave such impulse to the Eebellion ; and now, in the 
same spirit, and for the sake of true peace, they declare 
themselves against that War System by which the peace 
of nations is placed in such constant jeopardy. They are 
right; for nobody suffers in war as the working-man, 
whether in property or in person. For him war is a 
ravening monster, devouring his substance, and changing 
him from citizen to military serf. As victim of the War 
System he is entitled to be heard. 

The working-men of different countries have been 
organizing in societies, of which it is difficult at present 
to tell the number and extent. It is known that these 
societies exist in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and 
England, as well as in our own country, and that they 
have in some measure an international character. In 
France, before the war, there were 433,785 men in the 
organization, and in Germany 150,000. Yet this is but 
the beginning. 

At the menace of the present war, all these societies 
were roused. The society known as the International 
Working-Men's Association, by their General Council, 
issued an address, dated at London, protesting against it 
as " a war of dynasties," denouncing Louis Napoleon as 
an enemy of the laboring classes, and declaring the war 
plot of 1870 but an amended edition of the coup d'etat 
of 1851. The address then testifies generally against 
war, saying, — 

" They feel deeply convinced, that, whatever turn the im- 
pending horrid war may take, the alliance of the working 
classes of all countries will ultimately hill war.''' 

At the same time the Paris branch of the Interna- 



60 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GERMANY, 

tional Association put forth a manifesto addressed " To 
the working-men of all nations," from wliich I take 
these passages : — 

" Once more, on the pretext of the European equilibrium, 
of national honor, the peace of the world is menaced by po- 
litical ambitions. French, German, Spanish workmen ! let 
our voices unite in one cry of reprobation against war / . . . . 
War for a question of preponderance, or a dynasty, can, in 
the eyes of working-men, be nothing but a criminal absurdity. 
In answer to the warlike proclamations of those who exempt 
themselves from the impost of blood, and find in public mis- 
fortunes a source of fresh speculations, we protest, — we 
who want peace, labor, and liberty Brothers of Ger- 
many ! our division would only result in the complete triumph 

of despotism on both sides of the Rhine Working-men of 

all countries ! whatever may, for the present, become of our 
common efforts, we, the members of the International Work- 
ing-Men's Association, who know of no frontiers, we send you, 
as a pledge of indissoluble solidarity, the good wishes and the 
salutations of the working-men of France." 

To this appeal, so full of truth, touching to the quick 
the pretence of balance of power and questions of dy- 
nasty as excuses for war, and then rising to " one cry of 
reprobation against war," the Berlin branch of the Inter- 
national Association replied : — 

" We join with heart and hand in your protestation 

Solemnly we promise that neither the sound of the tnimpet 
nor the roar of cannon, neither victory nor defeat, shall 
divert us from our work of the union of the children of toil 
in all countries." 

Then came a meeting of delegates at Chemnitz, 
in Saxony, representing fifty thousand Saxon working- 
men, which put forth the following hardy words : — 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 61 

" We are happy to grasp the fraternal hand stretched out 

to us by the working-men of France Mindful of the 

watchword of the International Working-Men's Association, 
Proletarians of all countries, zmite ! we shall never forget that 
the working-men of all countries are our friends, — and the 
despots of all countries our enemies." 

Next followed, at Brunswick, in Germany, on the IGth 
of July, — the very day after the reading of the war 
document at the French tribune, and the " light heart " 
of the Prime Minister, — a mass meeting of the work- 
ing-men there, which declared its full concurrence with 
the manifesto of the Paris branch, spurned the idea of 
national antagonism to Prance, and wound up with 
these solid words : " We are the enemies of all wars, 
but above all of dynastic wars." 

The whole subject is presented with admirable power 
in an address from the Working-Men's Peace Committee 
to the working-men of Great Britain and Ireland, duly 
signed by their of&cers. Here are some of its sen- 
tences : — 

" Without us war must cease ; for without us standing 
armies could not exist. It is out of our class that they are 

formed We would call upon and implore the peoples 

of France and Germany, in order to enable their own rulers 
to realize these their peace-loving professions, to insist upon 
the abolition of standing armies, as both the source and the 
means of war, nurseries of vice, and locust-consumers of the 
fruits of useful industry. 

"What we claim and demand — what we would implore 
the peoples of Europe to do, without regard to Courts, Cabi- 
nets, or Dynasties — is to insist lupon Arbitration as a substir- 
tute for war, with peace and its blessings for them, for us, for 
the whole civilized world." 



62 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

The working-men of England responded to this appeal, 
in a crowded meeting at St. James's Hall, London, where 
all the speakers were working-men and representatives 
of the various handicrafts, except the Chairman, whose 
strong words found echo in the intense convictions of 
the large assemblage : — 

" One object of this meeting was to make the horror 
universally inspired by the enormous and cruel carnage of 
this terrible war the groundwork for appealing to the work- 
ing classes and the people of all other European countries to 
join in protesting against war altogether \prolonged cheers], 
as the shame of Christendom, and direct curse and scourge 
of the human race. Let the will of the people sweep away 
war, which could not be waged without them. [" Hear ! "] 
Away with enormous standing armies, ["^mr .^"] the nur- 
series and instruments of war, — nurseries, too, of vice, and 
crushing burdens upon national wealth and prosperity ! Let 
there go forth from the people of this and other lands one 
universal and all-overpowering cry and demand for the bless- 
ings of peace." 

At this meeting the Honorary Secretary of the Work- 
ins-Men's Peace Committee, after announcing that the 
working-men of upwards of three hundred towns had 
given their adhesion to the platform of the Committee, 
thus showing a determination to abolish war altogether, 
moved the following resolution, which was adopted : — 

" That war, especially with the present many fearful con- 
trivances for wholesale carnage and destruction, is repugnant 
to every principle of reason, humanity, and religion ; and 
this meeting eai'uestly invites all civilized and Christian 
peoples to insist upon the abolition of standing armies, and 
the settlement by arbitration of all international disputes." 

Thus clearly is the case stated by the Working-Men, 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 63 

now beginning to be beard, and tbe testimony is rever- 
berated from nation to nation. Tbey cannot be silent 
hereafter. I confidently look to tbem for important 
co-operation in this great work of redemption. Conld 
my voice reach them now, wherever they may be in 
that honest toil which is the appointed lot of man, it 
would be with words of cheer and encouragement. Let 
them proceed until civilization is no longer darkened by 
war. In this way will they become not only saviours 
to their own households, but benefactors of the whole 
Human Family. 

ABOLITION OF THE WAR SYSTEM. 

Such is the statement, with its many proofs, by which 
war is exhibited as the duel of nations, being the Trial 
by Battle of the Dark Ages. You have seen how na- 
tions, under existing International Law, to which all are 
parties, refer their differences to this insensate arbitra- 
ment, — and then how, in our day and before our own 
eyes, two nations, eminent in civilization, have furnished 
an instance of the incredible folly, waging together a 
world-convulsing, soul-harrowing, and most barbarous 
contest. All ask how long the direful duel will be con- 
tinued. Better ask. How long will be continued that 
War System by which such a duel is authorized and 
regulated among nations ? When wiU this legalized, 
organized crime be abolished ? When at last will it be 
confessed that the Law of Eight is the same for nations 
as for individuals, so that if Trial by Battle be impious 
for individuals, it is so for nations also ? Against it are 
Eeason and Humanity, pleading as never before, — 
Economy asking for mighty help, — Peace with softest 



64 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

voice praying for safeguard, — and then the authority 
of Philosophy speaking by some of its greatest masters, 
— all reinforced by tlie irrepressible, irresistible protest 
of working-men in different nations. 

Precedents exist for the abolition of this duel, so 
completely in point, that, according to the lawyer's 
phrase, they " go on all fours " with the new case. Two 
of these have been already mentioned : first, when, at 
the Diet of Worms, in 1495, the Emperor Maximilian 
proclaimed a permanent peace throughout Germany, and 
abolished the " liberty " of Private War ; and, secondly, 
when, in 1815, the German Principalities stipulated 
" under no pretext to declare war against one another, 
nor to pursue their mutual differences by force of arms." 
But first in time, and perhaps in importance, was the 
great Ordinance of St. Louis, king of France, promul- 
gated at a Parliament in 1260, where he says : " We 
forhid to all persons througliout our dominions the Trial 
BY Battle, and instead of battles we establish proofs by 

ivitnesses And these Battles we abolish in 

OUR Dominions forever." (Guizot, Histoire de la Civi- 
lisation en France, Tome IV. pp. 162-164) These at 
the time were great words, and they continue great as 
an example. Their acceptance by any two nations would 
begin the work of abolition, which would be completed 
on their adoption by a Congress of Nations, taking from 
war its existing sanction. 

THE WORLD A GLADIATORIAL AMPHITHEATRE. 

The growing tendencies of mankind have been quick- 
ened by the character of the present war, and the un- 
exampled publicity with which it has been waged. 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 65 

Never before were all nations, even those separated 
by great spaces, wliether of land or ocean, the daily 
and excited spectators of the combat. The vast am- 
phitheatre within which the battle is fought, with the 
whole heavens for its roof, is coextensive with civi- 
lization itself. The scene in that great Flavian am- 
phitheatre, the famous Colosseum, is a faint type of 
what we are witnessing ; but that is not without its les- 
son. Bloody games, where human beings contended 
with lions and tigers, imported for the purpose, or with 
each other, constituted an institution of ancient Rome, 
only mildly rebuked by Cicero, and adopted even by 
Titus, in that short reign so much praised as unspotted 
by the blood of the citizen. One hundred thousand 
spectators looked on, while gladiators from Germany 
and Gaul joined in ferocious combat, and then, as blood 
began to flow, and victim after victim sank upon the 
sand, the people caught the fierce contagion. A com- 
mon ferocity ruled the scene. As Christianity pre- 
vailed, the incongruity of such an institution was widely 
felt ; but still it continued. At last an Eastern monk, 
moved only by report, journeyed a long way to protest 
against the impiety. With noble enthusiasm he leaped 
into the arena, where the battle raged, in order to sepa- 
rate the combatants. He was unsuccessful, and paid 
with life the penalty of his humanity. But the martyr 
triumphed where the monk had failed. Shortly after- 
wards the Emperor Honorius, by solemn decree, put an 
end to this horrid custom. " The first Christian Em- 
peror," says Gibbon, " may claim the honor of the first 
edict which condemned the art and amusement of shed- 
ding human blood." (Gibbon, Yol. IV. Chap. 30, p. 40.) 
Our amphitheatre is larger than that of Eome ; but it 



66 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GEEMANY, 

witnesses scenes not less revolting ; nor need any monk 
journey a long way to protest against the impiety. 
That protest can be uttered by every one here at home. 
We are all spectators ; and since by human craft the 
civilized world has become one mighty Colosseum, with 
place for everybody, may we not insist that the bloody 
games by which it is yet polluted shall cease, and that, 
instead of mutual-murdering gladiators filling the near- 
brought scene with death, there shall be an harmonious 
people, of different nations, but one fellowship, vying 
together only in works of industry and art, inspired and 
exalted by a divine beneficence ? 

In presenting this picture I exaggerate nothing. How 
feeble is language to depict the stupendous barbarism ! 
How small by its side the bloody games which degraded 
ancient Eome ! How pygmy the one, how colossal the 
other! Would you know how the combat is con- 
ducted ? Here is the briefest picture of the arena by a 
looker-on : — 

" Let your readers fancy masses of colored rags glued to- 
gether with blood and brains, and pinned into strange shapes 
by fragments of bones. Let them conceive men's bodies 
without heads, legs without bodies, heaps of human entrails 
attached to red and blue cloth, and disembowelled corpses 
in uniform, bodies lying about in all attitudes, with skulls 
shattered, faces blown off, hips smashed, bones, flesh, and 
gay clothing all pounded together, as if brayed in a mortar, 
extending for miles, not very thick in any one place, but re- 
curring perpetually for weary hours, and then they cannot, 
with the most vivid imagination, come up to the sickening 
reality of that butchery." 

Such a sight would have shocked the Heathen of 
Eome. They could not have looked on while the brave 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 67 

gladiator was thus changed into a bloody hash ; least of 
all could they have seen the work of slaughter done by 
machinery. JSTor could any German gladiator have 
written the letter I proceed to quote from a German 
soldier : — 

" I do not know how it is, but one wholly forgets the dan- 
ger one is in, and thinks only of the effect of one's own bul- 
lets, i-ejoicing, like a child, at the sight of the enemy falling- 
like skittles, and having scarcely a compassionate glance to 
spare for the comrade falling at one's side. One ceases to 
be a human being, and turns into a brute, a complete brute," 

Plain confession ! And yet the duel continues. Nor 
is there death for the armed man only. Fire mingles 
with slaughter, as at Bazeilles. Women and children 
are roasted alive, filling the air with suffocating odor, 
while the maddened combatants rage against each 
other. All this is but part of the prolonged and va- 
rious spectacle, where the scene shifts only for some 
other horror. Meanwhile the sovereigns of the world 
sit in their boxes, and the people everywhere occupy 
the benches. 

PEEIL FEOM THE WAE SYSTEM. 

The duel now pending teaches the peril from contin- 
uance of the present system. If France and Germany 
can be brought so suddenly into collision on a mere 
pretext, what two nations are entirely safe ? Where is 
the talisman for their protection ? None, surely, except 
Disarmament, which, therefore, for the interest of all 
nations, should be commenced. Prussia is now an ac- 
knowledged military power, " armed in complete steel " ; 
but at what cost to her people, if not to mankind! 



68 THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, 

Military citizenship, according to Prussian rule, is mili- 
tary serfdom, and on this is elevated a military despot- 
ism of singular grasp and power, operating throughout 
the whole nation, like martial law or a state of siege. 
In Prussia the law tyrannically seizes every youth of 
eighteen, and, no matter what his calling or profession, 
compels him to military service for seven years. Three 
years he spends in the regular army, where his life is 
surrendered to the trade of blood. Then for four years 
he passes to the Landwehr, or militia, where he is sub- 
ject to periodic military drills ; then for nine years 
longer to the Landsturm, with liability to service in 
case of war until fifty. Wherever he may be in foreign 
lands his military duty is paramount. 

But if this system be good for Prussia, then must it 
be equally good for other nations. If this economical 
government, with education for all, subordinates the 
business of life to the military drill, other nations will 
find too much reason for doing the same. Unless the 
War System is abandoned, aU must follow the success- 
ful example, while the civilized world becomes a busy 
camp, with every citizen for a soldier, and with all 
sounds swallowed up in the tocsin of war. Where, 
then, are the people ? Wliere are popular rights ? Mon- 
tesquieu has not hesitated to declare that the peril to free 
governments proceeds from armies, and that this peril 
is not corrected even by making them depend directly 
on the legislative power. This is not enough. The 
armies must be reduced in number and force. Among 
his papers, found since his death, is the prediction, 
" Europe will be lost through her military." (Villemain, 
GoiLTs de Zitterature Frangaise, Tome I. p. 423, 15°^® 
Legon.) It is the privilege of genius like that of Mon- 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 69 

tesquieu to lift the curtain of the future ; but even he 
did not see the vastness of suffering in store for his own 
country through those armies against which he warned. 
For years the engine of despotism at home, they became 
the sudden instrument of war abroad. Without them 
Louis Napoleon could not have made himself Emperor, 
nor could he have hurried France into the present duel. 
If needed in other days, they are not needed now. The 
War System, always barbarous, is an anachronism, full 
of peril both to peace and liberal institutions. 

PEACE. 

An army is a despotism ; military service is a bond- 
age ; nor can the passion for arms be reconciled with a 
true civilization. The present failure to acknowledge 
this incompatibility is only another illustration how the 
clear light of truth is discolored and refracted by an 
atmosphere where the cloud of war still lingers. Soon 
must this cloud be dispersed. From war to peace is a 
change indeed; but Nature herself testifies to change. 
Sirius, largest and brightest of all the fixed stars, was 
noted by Ptolemy as fiery-red, and by Seneca as redder 
than Mars, but since then it has changed to white. To 
the morose remark, whether in the philosophy of Hobbes 
or the apology of the soldier, that man is a fighting 
animal and that war is natural, I reply, — natural for 
savages rejoicing in the tattoo, natural for barbarians re- 
joicing in violence, but not natural for man in a true 
civilization, which I insist is the natural state to which 
he tends by a sure progression. The true state of Na- 
ture is not war, but peace. Not only every war, but 
every recognition of war as the mode of determining 



70 THE DUEL BETWEEN FEANCE AND GEKMANY, 

international differences, is evidence that we are yet bar- 
barians, — and so also is every ambition for empire 
founded on force, and not on the consent of the people. 
A ghastly, bleeding human head was discovered by the 
early Eomans, as they dug the foundations of that Cap- 
ital which finally swayed the world. That ghastly, 
bleeding human head is the fit symbol of military 
power. 

Let the War System be abolished, and, in the glory 
of this consummation, how vulgar all that comes from 
battle ! By the side of this serene, beneficent ciAdliza- 
tion, how petty in its pretensions is military power, how 
vain its triumphs ! At this moment the great general 
who has organized victory for Germany is veiled, and 
his name does not appear even in the military bulletins. 
Thus is the glory of arms passing from sight, and battle 
losing its ancient renown. Peace does not arrest the 
mind like war. It does not glare like battle. Its 
operations, like those of Nature, are gentle, yet sure. It 
is not the tumbling, sounding cataract, but the tranquil, 
fruitful river. Even the majestic Magara, with thunder 
like war, cannot compare with the peaceful plains of 
water which it divides. How easy to see that the re- 
pose of nations, like the repose of Nature, is the great 
parent of the most precious bounties vouchsafed by 
Providence ! Add peace to Liberty, 

" And with that vh'tue every virtue lives." 

As peace is assured, the traditional sensibilities of 
nations will disappear. Their frontiers will no longer 
frown with hostile cannon, nor will their people be 
nursed to hate each other. By ties of constant fellow- 
ship will they be interwoven together, no sudden trum- 



"WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 71 

pet waking to arms, no sharp summons disturbing the 
uniform repose. By steam, by telegraph, by the press, 
have they already conqiiered time, subdued space, thus 
breaking down old Avails of partition , by which they 
have been separated. Ancient example loses its in- 
fluence. The prejudices of another generation are re- 
moved, and a new geography gives place to the old. The 
heavens are divided into constellations, with names from 
beasts, or from some form of brute force, as Leo, Tau- 
rus, Sagittarius, and Orion with his club ; but this is 
human device. By similar scheme is the earth divided. 
But in the sight of God there is one Human Family 
without division, where all are equal in rights, and the 
attempt to set up distinctions, keeping men asunder, or 
in barbarous groups, is a practical denial of that great 
truth, religious and political, the Brotherhood of Man. 
The Christian's Fatherland is not merely the nation in 
which he was born, but the whole earth appointed by 
the Heavenly Father for his home. In this Fatherland 
there can be no place for unfriendly boundaries set up 
by any, — least of all place for the War System, making 
nations as hostile camps. 

At Lassa, in Thibet, there is a venerable stone in 
memory of the treaty between the courts of Thibet and 
China, as long ago as 821, bearing an inscription worthy 
of a true civilization. From Eastern story learn now 
the beauty of peace. After the titles of the two august 
sovereigns, the monument proceeds : " These two wise, 
holy, spiritual, and accomplished princes, foreseeing the 
changes hidden in the most distant futurity, touched 
with sentiments of compassion towards their people, 
and not knowing, in their beneficent protection, any 
difference between their subjects and strangers, have. 



72 THE DUEL BETWEEN FKANCE AND GEEMANY, 

after mature reflection and by mutual consent, resolved 
to give peace to their people In perfect har- 
mony with each other, they will henceforth be good 
neighbors, and will do their utmost to draw still closer 
the bonds of union and friendship In preserv- 
ing their limits, the respective parties shall not attack 
each other in arms, or make any incursions beyond the 
frontiers now determined." Then declaring that the 
two must reciprocally exalt their virtues and banish all 
mistrust, that travellers may be without uneasiness, 
that the inhabitants of villages may live at peace, and 
that nothing may happen to cause misunderstanding, 
the inscription announces, in terms doubtless Oriental : 
" This benefit will be extended to future generations, 
and the voice of love towards its authors will be heard 
wherever the splendor of the sun and the moon is seen. 
The Pho will be tranquil in their kingdom, and the 
Han will be joyful in their empire." (Timkowski's 
Travels through Mongolia and China, Vol. I. pp. 461 — 
468.) Such is the benediction which from early times 
has spoken from one of the monuments erected by the 
god Terminus. Call it Oriental ; would it were uni- 
versal ! While recognizing a frontier, there is equal 
recognition of peace as the rule of international life. 

THE EEPUBLIC. 

In the abolition of the War System the wiU of the 
people must become all-powerful, exalting the Eepublic 
to its just place as the natural expression of citizenship. 
At St. Helena Napoleon uttered the famous prophecy, 
that in fifty years Europe would be Eepublican or Cos- 
sack. The fifty years will expire in 1871. Evidently 



WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 73 

Europe will not be Cossack, unless the Cossack is al- 
ready changed to Eepublican, — as well may be, when 
it is known, that, since the great act of Enfranchise- 
ment, in February, 1860, by which twenty- three mil- 
lions of serfs were raised to citizenship, with the right 
to vote, eleven thousand miles of railway have been 
opened in Eussia, and fifteen thousand three hundred 
and fifty public schools. A better than Napoleon, who 
saw mankind with truer insight, Lafayette, has recorded 
a clearer prophecy. At the foundation of the monu- 
ment on Bunker Hill, on the semi-centennial anniver- 
•sary of the battle, 17th of June, 1825, our much-honored 
national guest gave this toast : " Bunker Hill, and the 
holy resistance to oppression, which has already en- 
franchised the American hemisphere. The next half- 
century's Jubilee toast shall be to Enfranchised 
Europe." The close of that half-century, already so 
prolific, is at hand. Shall it behold the great Jubilee 
with all its vastness of promise accomplished ? En- 
franchised Europe, foretold by Lafayette, means not 
only the Eepublic for all, but Peace for all ; it means 
the United States of Europe, with the War System 
abolished. Against that little faith through which so 
much fails in life, I declare my unalterable conviction, 
that " government of the people, by the people, and for 
the people " — thus simply described by Abraham Lin- 
coln — is a necessity of civilization, not only because of 
that republican equality without distinction of birth 
which it establishes, but for its assurance of permanent 
peace. All privilege is usurpation, and, like Slavery, a 
state of war, relieved only by truce, to be broken by 
the people in their might. To the people alone can 
mankind look for the repose of nations ; but the 

4 



74' THE DUEL BETWEEN FKANCE AND GEEMANY. 

Eepublic is the embodied people. All hail to the Ee- 
public, equal guardian of all, and angel of peace ! 

Our own part is simple. It is, first, to keep out of 
war, — and, next, to stand firm in those ideas which are 
the life of the Eepublic. Peace is our supreme voca- 
tion. To this we are called. By this we succeed. Our 
example is more than an army. But not on this ac- 
count can we be indifferent, when Human Eights are 
assailed or republican institutions are in question. 
Garibaldi asks for a " word," that easiest expression of 
power. Strange will it be, when that is not given. To 
the Eepublic, and to all struggling for Human Eights, I 
give word, with heart on the lips. Word and heart I 
give. Nor would I have my country forget at any 
time, in the discharge of its transcendent duties, that, 
since the rule of conduct and of honor is the same for 
nations as for individuals, the greatest nation is that 
which does most for Humanity. 



THE END. 



Cambridge : Printed by Welch, Bigelow, and Company . 



THE COMPLETE WOEKS 



CHARLES SUMNER 

In elegant Crown 8vo Volumes, ivitli Portrait, 
Notes, and Index. 



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It has peculiar claims upon the pride and patriotism of every 
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now is, the acknowledged leader in the cause of Human Eights. 

This Edition will be Elegantly Printed, on tinted paper, at the 
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"Vols. I. and II. now ready for Delivery. 

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i ff 

THE DUEL 



BETWEEU 



FRANCE AND GERMANY, 



ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. 



LECTURE 



CHARLES SUMNER, 



fe 



" For wlieii kings mate war, 
No law betwixt two sovereigns can decide, 
But that of arms, where fortune is the judge. 
Soldiers the lawyers, and the bar the field." 

Detden. 



BOSTON: 
LEE AND SHEPARD 

1871. 






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